Depleted Salt Supplies Have Area Contractors Scrambling
By John McDevitt
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This severe winter has private contractors in the area concerned about the low supplies of salt and other ice-melting materials.
"We are in a crisis here," says Mary Davis of Davis Feed Mill, in Rushland (Bucks County), Pa. Her company sells salt in bulk but has had to institute rationing.
"We have a two-pallet limit," she said yesterday. "Guys are waiting in line for this salt."
Mark Shablin is the owner of Mark Shablin Landscaping. Crews for his company clear lots of ice and snow. He says there's enough material for one more storm, but after that he doesn't know what's going to happen.
"We just have to hope that something is going to free up," he says, "but as of now there are no answers."
Mary Kay Warner is with International Salt Company, one of the largest salt suppliers in the country.
"We do have limited resupply over the next few weeks," she tells KYW Newsradio. "We have several ships that are enroute now from Chile, which is where we obtain our salt." She said the first of those ships were due to arrive in Philadelphia within a day.
