Salt shortage having impact on local towns

PENNSYLVANIA — Since the start of the bone-chilling arctic blast, salt has been flying off the shelves faster than stores can stock them.

“We have been searching for salt,” said Janine Mickel of Murrysville. “It’s been tough to find.”

Mickel and her husband Richard have been on the hunt for days.

“I came to Walmart several times,” Janine Mickel said. “Then, I went to Busy Beaver. I called Agway and no one seemed to have it.”

It’s the same story at the Ace hardware store in Delmont where a sign on the door simply reads, “Out of salt.”

“All these different stores who always had salt in the past don’t have anything now,” Richard Mickel said.

Janine Mickel added, “If they have it, it goes very quickly.”

The busy Busy Beaver on Hollywood Boulevard in Delmont also can’t keep up with the high demand.

“There’s nothing left,” said sales employee Teri Sewall. “Ninety percent of our phone calls were asking if we had rock salt or if we had calcium chloride.”

Sewall said they put 250 bags of salt out Wednesday morning and by the afternoon, it was sold out.

“It lasts maybe a day, day and a half, and then it’s gone,” she said.

The salt shortage isn’t only affecting stores and homeowners. Several communities throughout Westmoreland County are also experiencing a shortage.

Ligonier Township, Jeannette and Greensburg all declared states of emergency allowing them to buy salt from other suppliers.

Ligonier Township Manager Michael Strelic said its vendor Compass Minerals left them high and dry.

“We’ve been ordering from them, and they have been late and slow and lately not delivering at all,” he said.

Ligonier Township lifted its state of emergency late Wednesday afternoon after Strelic said they borrowed 150 tons from PennDOT’s emergency stockpile. He also said they’re looking to work with a new supplier next year.

“Quite a few of them gave us quotes for next year,” said Strelic.

Meantime, most of the stores told Channel 11 they’re hoping to have more salt in stock later this week or next week.

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