Committee amends salt-reduction bill; agrees to cover or move near-water salt storage, clarifies municipal training and liability

The Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Energy on March 12 amended S.29, a bill to reduce chloride contamination from road salt, agreeing to remove municipal salt applicators from the state certification program, add session-law language directing local roads training for municipal applicators, and require storage near water be covered or moved.

The committee’s amendment keeps municipal applicators out of the new statewide certification program and directs the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and the Agency of Transportation (AOT) to coordinate training through the established local roads curriculum. Committee members also inserted language that storage of salt or salt–sand mixtures located within 100 yards of surface water must be “covered and managed to contain runoff or moved further than 100 yards,” and that all facilities would need to comply with cover requirements by 2035. The committee added a narrowly‑worded municipal liability protection tied to completion of the local roads curriculum and best management practices training, with an exception for gross negligence.

Why it matters: the bill aims to reduce chloride entering surface waters and groundwater, but committee members and agency witnesses pressed for language that recognizes existing municipal training programs and for funding and technical help so municipalities are not left with unfunded mandates. The changes shift some responsibilities into session law and agency…