HELENA — A Hungry Horse senator hopes to add a bill lowering the amount of chemicals in road deicer to the mass of legislation moving through the Legislature this week.
Sen. Dee Brown has advanced Senate Bill 369 just days ahead of a Friday deadline requiring general bills to be transmitted to the opposite chamber. The Senate Finance and Claims Committee passed it 13-6 on Wednesday following a 7-5 vote in the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
The Republican’s proposal would bring down the amount of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride in highway deicer to 2007-2010 levels. Brown says that, after 2010, chemical additives skyrocketed in the Montana Department of Transportation’s deicer mixes.
Jon Swartz with the department’s maintenance program says using more chemicals has lowered deicing costs.