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WARREN - Trumbull County and five other northeast Ohio counties will receive much less road salt than previously ordered because of the closure of the Morton Fairport Harbor mine in Painesville after the company discovered in October there was a large amount of water inflow into the mine.
The company laid off 77 employees that worked in the mine because of unsafe working conditions. The Fairport Harbor site is one of Morton's key rock salt sources, raising regional road salt supply questions for the winter.
Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro told county commissioners during their weekly workshop on Tuesday that Morton's Fairport Harbor mine supplies road salt to six northeast Ohio counties – Ashtabula, Mahoning, Lake, Geauga, Portage and Trumbull.
"They told us today that they mined 50,000 tons out of that mine," DeChristofaro said. “So they have 50,000 tons available for the six counties. That's enough to supply about 30% of the salt (previously ordered) by the six counties.”
Trumbull County represents about 30 communities that purchase salt.
DeChristofaro said that Trumbull County purchases salt from Morton for these communities using an Ohio Department of Transportation purchasing program.
"Each of the communities will be limited to 30% of what they normally order," he said. "There are some communities that have salt remaining from the previous winter that are available in our salt domes. Others have no salt from last year's supply."
Trumbull County not only had salt saved from last winter's season, but the engineer's office purchased the maximum amount it could after the end of the 2025-26 winter season, which was 4,000 tons, at last year's price of $45 per ton.
"We got it at a discount because we purchased the salt at last year's price, instead of the $60 per ton, which is this year's price," DeChristofaro said. "So we, Trumbull County, are not in as bad a shape as some other communities that chose not to purchase the maximum amount they could after the end of the season."
DeChristofaro warned that Trumbull County will not be able to provide its extra supply of salt to other communities because the amount is still less than the county would have ordered had there not been a closure at the Fairport Harbor mine.
DeChristofaro suggested communities begin looking at their inventories to determine how they may want to distribute their salt this winter season.
Trumbull County ordered 16,000 tons of salt and it only received 5,000 tons.
Communities that are concerned about their salt inventory or the amount expected to come during this winter season may look to add aggregate to their salt at a one-to-one or a two-to-one ratio to make it last through the winter. Aggregate may be crushed stone or limestone chips, which improves winter traction on icy roads.
"Each community is going to have to assess their salt situation individually," DeChristofaro said. "We (Trumbull County) will be mixing salt with slag probably more than we normally do to make sure we have enough to last through the winter season.”
Commissioner Tony Bernard asked what the state is recommending communities that are affected by the mine closure do.
DeChristofaro said there are three other companies in Ohio that have contracts to provide road salt in 2027, which includes American, Cargill and Compass. According to an Ohio Department of Transportation map of salt suppliers, Morton is the largest supplier to the state's 88 counties, contracting with 35 of them.
Cargill has contracts to provide salt to 15 counties, American has contracts to provide road salt to 11 counties and Compass has contracts to provide salt to nine counties. There are 18 counties, according to ODOT, that do not have 2027 contracts with any salt supplier.
Road salt prices range from $55.39 per ton to $117.29 per ton.
"The other companies do not have the inventory or the capability to sell their salt (to the six counties affected by the Morton Salt Mine closure)," DeChristofaro said. "I am hoping they will consider increasing their mining capacity to get more salt."
DeChristofaro says his office has been reaching out to the other salt suppliers in an effort to get more salt.
"We are still in discussions," he said.
Bernard noted that some areas use sand to mix with their road salt.
"We do not," DeChristofaro said.