Perhaps most important among them was the June 25th decision in National Ass’n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife. The Supreme Court reversed an appeals court ruling that had, in effect, established the Endangered Species Act (ESA) as a super-statute that was given priority when its dictates conflicted with other laws. This grew out of the infamous "snail darter" case thirty years ago that held the ESA “require[s federal] agencies to afford first priority to the declared national policy of saving endangered species.” The NAHB ruling examined a conflict of the ESA with the Clean Water Act and the court ruled that the agencies should consult together to resolve the problem, not sacrifice pollution control rules as the preferred outcome. The ESA has been employed regarding solar salt production and this ruling is a step forward for rational (and more flexible) public policy.

With 480 total days lost out of more than 11 million hours worked, 2005 was the safest year in the history of the Salt Institute's safety program - all the way back to 1968. Since steady progress has been recorded since then, it is safe to assume 2005 was the all-time safest year in history. Salt workers suffered 22 lost time injuries last year, seven fewer than in 2004 -- an improvement of 24.14%.

This dramatic improvement stands in stark contrast with recent mine safety failures that have MSHA scrambling to defend its safety promotion efforts.

Overall, three companies won top honors for their corporate safety records. Among large salt compaies, Morton Salt (Chicago, IL) had the best safety record regarding incidence of injuries and Sifto Salt (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) had the industry's best record regarding injury severity. Among smaller salt companies, Lyons Salt (Lyons, KS) had the best record in both categories.

Individual facilities were recognized as well. Best incidence records were achieved by Cargill Salt's St. Clair, MI evaporated salt plant, Morton Salt's Fairport, OH mine and North American Salt (Compass Minerals) Ogden, UT solar saltworks. Regarding severity, the industry standard was set by Morton Salt's Rittman, OH salt refinery (owner of the industry's historic best safety record: 6 million consecutive safe work-hours), Sifto Salt's Goderich, Ontario mine and Cargill Salt's Akron, OH salt refinery. Morton Salt was honored for its industry-best terminals and warehouses.