As Maine experiences an old-fashioned winter with plenty of snow, state and municipal road crews are using every weapon in their arsenal to fight back. One of the weapons – liquid calcium chloride – is handily winning the war on snow and ice but is causing collateral damage, rusting out the undersides of vehicles at an alarming rate. Are there workable alternatives?

Although a bill from Rep. David Miramant, D-Camden, calls to ban use of the liquid brine, his intent is less dramatic. He wants to see a group of stakeholders gathered to review a fairly extensive body of evidence on the use of calcium chloride and other road treatment chemicals. The committee, as envisioned by Rep. Miramant, would then develop a set of guidelines for the salt treatments.

This is a reasonable response to a real problem. And it recognizes the difficulty of balancing the slow and steady destruction of personal property against swift injury or death.

DOT is keen on using calcium chloride for several reasons. It is considered an anti-icing agent, rather than a de-icer, so it is applied before storms to inhibit the packed snow and ice that used to pile up on roads. Using the brine solution has meant DOT could significantly reduce the amount of salted sand it prepares for winter road maintenance, from 500,000 cubic yards to 50,000 cubic yards. After storms, that sand is reduced to a fine dust that blows in the wind. Breathing the fine silica is a health hazard, DOT has found.

In his research of the matter, Rep. Miramant found that calcium chloride is the least expensive but most corrosive treatment. And when it is mixed with the traditional sodium chloride mixed with sand, it is even more damaging to vehicles. Canadian officials have studied and published a report on the effects of calcium chloride. Among the findings are that using magnesium chloride – a more expensive chemical – results in fewer rusted brake lines and rotors.

And using calcium magnesium acetate is costlier still. But CMA is no more corrosive than water. The city of Vancouver considered switching to using CMA but projected it would cost $4.8 million, compared to $280,000 for calcium chloride, Rep. Miramant said. DOT presently uses CMA on bridges, so as not to corrode steel beams. He suspects new guidelines created by a committee might dictate that CMA be used on certain parts of roads, perhaps on steep hills and curves.

And if the committee is formed, it must consider that the new road treatments appear to be reducing the number of crashes, even if it rusts vehicles. The public should also consider its expectations for road maintenance; driving 50 miles an hour during a snowstorm is not an entitlement.