Help keep Salon independent

Robin Valleau

In a this Sept. 16, 2014 photo salt is unloaded at the Scio Township, Mich. maintenance yard. The rewards for surviving last year's punishing winter are tight supplies of road salt and some drastic price spikes for the commodity across much of the U.S. as the next cold season approaches. Some Midwest county road officials are facing price increases that are twice or more _ even five times _ what they paid last year if they can get it. Increases of at least 20 percent have been common in cities including Boston and Raleigh, North Carolina. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Road salt is bad for the environment. So why do we use it?

Jamie Summers, Robin Valleau