Date:         Sun, 24 Nov 2002 00:20:56 -0600
Reply-To:     Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MTS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Warning - WA Dept of Trans & Chemistry
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Oh, the irony.  From today's Winnipeg Free Press.


City seeks less salt for winter streets
New guidelines expected from feds

Sat, Nov 23, 2002

By Mary Agnes Welch

The city is trying to minimize the amount of toxic road salt used on
Winnipeg streets in an effort to get the jump on new Environment Canada
guidelines.
"It tracks into buildings, it destroys roads, it destroys plants, it gets on
my pant cuffs. I hate it," said Coun. John Angus, head of the public works
committee.

The city is testing other ice-melting methods, including the use of salt
brine, which works fairly well, and even crushed glass on roads frequented
by heavy trucks.

Once the hubbub surrounding the Kyoto agreement has passed, the federal
environment minister is expected to declare road salt a toxic substance
because of the damage it wreaks.

In the meantime, a group of experts led by Environment Canada is developing
guidelines on the ideal way to reduce the use of salt and stop it from
leaching into the ground, said Bernard Made, Environment Canada's chemical
control division chief.

The guidelines, expected in about nine months, are not binding, but each
city's salt plan will come under some scrutiny from Ottawa. Winnipeg uses
18,000 metric tonnes of salt per year, costing about $1 million. About 5,000
metric tonnes are used to treat sand so that it doesn't clump, but the rest
is applied directly to slippery roads.

Public works department spokesman Bob McDonald said the city recently built
the first of three big barns to keep the sand piles dry so less salt is
needed to counteract clumping. And, keeping the treated sand out of the rain
also reduces the amount of salt that leaches into the ground.

The new barns could halve the amount of salt needed to treat sand, producing
a salt savings of about 2,500 metric tonnes.

The city is also looking for permanent places to dump snow shovelled off
roads and parking lots. That snow contains a small amount of salt and may
require some kind of catch basin for the runoff so it doesn't poison
vegetation.

Many sand and salt trucks are now equipped with sensors that make sure no
more salt or treated sand is applied than necessary, added McDonald.
"Before, the spreaders just spat it out and you'd get something that looked
like the Gobi Desert," he said.

And, there are special sensors on Bishop Grandin Boulevard and the Disraeli
Freeway to measure the road's wetness and temperature.

That data, combined with detailed weather forecasts, mean city trucks can be
fired up at the mere hint of snow or freezing rain.

Banning salt entirely is not really an option, say city and federal
officials, as well as transportation experts. Salt is not harmful to humans
and there is really no better way to melt ice. The next best product costs
30 times as much, and to ban salt would cause countless car accidents and
deaths.

Because salt stops working when temperatures drop below -10C, Manitoba uses
a lot less salt than more temperate provinces, like Prince Edward Island.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Huyck" <Fritz_H@MSN.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 11:01 PM
Subject: Warning - WA Dept of Trans & Chemistry


> Here's another reason to keep your vintage VW off the roads in Washington
> this winter.  In a blazing display of progressive thinking, the Washington
> State Department of Transportation will begin use of an experimental road
> de-icer this winter - wait for it - SALT!
>
> See the link below from the offical state website:
>
> http://www.access.wa.gov/news/article.asp?name=n0211107.htm
>
> Randy, Carla & Anna Huyck, Olympia, WA
> '75 Rustfalia
> '85 Vanagon GL
> '90 Fox GL
> '74 Super Beetle