Road de-icer sparks debate
Posted : Mar 9, 2010 6:32 PM
Updated: Mar 9, 2010 8:29 PM
Fire compromised a Colorado Springs Utilities power pole, sending power lines down to I-25, forcing the interstate to close for hours. There was no wind, no lightning, no ground fire, so what caused a power pole to start on fire?
"There was an arcing that occurred on the insulator around the power line and caused the fire. [It] brought the line down onto the interstate," says Steve Berry with Colorado Springs Utilities. Utilities managers know the power lines arced, but now they want to know why. They say the repeated use of the anti-icing agent magnesium chloride which is used before snow storms may have compromised insulation on the lines. "It looks like the magnesium chloride spray that CDOT uses on the road could've been a contributing factor."
Managers with The Colorado Department of Transportation who use the substance disagree. "There is no scientific evidence to support it. None that CDOT has that supports that claim, says CDOT Highway Maintenance Supervisor, Gary Heller.
Heller gives a lot of credit to mag-chloride for lowering the number of traffic problems when snows coming down. "It's keeping people and cars up on the road instead of in a ditch." Berry says," We support that and we want to work with them on that." Utilities mangers would like to study the possible connection further and then work with CDOT to make sure insulation is checked more often in areas where mag-chloride is used regularly near power lines.
