‘Buy American’ Law Cost New York Taxpayers Dearly

A New York law requiring the state to 'buy American' has cost taxpayers. Trump has touted buying American as putting America first, but it unfortunately backfired for New York residents. Back in 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law that required the state to buy American. The only problem is that the American company was not able to fulfill New York's needs this winter.

Legislation S.9441/A.7919-A was signed by Gov. Hochul on December 22, 2022. The law had good intentions, really good intentions. But in reality, it has cost taxpayers and created headaches for drivers in New York. Anyone who has survived a snowstorm, a polar vortex, a nor'easter, a blizzard, or lake effect snow knows that salt on the roads is an absolute must!

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The Buy American Salt Act had a noble goal of allowing public agencies and authorities in New York to buy salt mined in the United States. Sounds great, right? Gov. Hochul's office said in a press release that "salt mined or harvested in New York adds an estimated $3.00 in tax revenue for every ton of salt produced." However, per CBS 6 Albany, the law caused some issues this past winter.

Approximately half of the counties in New York went with a company called American Rock Salt, which has been in operation for almost 30 years. It is a New York State-based company located just 30 miles south of Rochester. The company boasts that it can produce 10,000 to 20,000 tons of rock salt each day. Those are pretty big numbers, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the demands of New York.

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Due to a great need this winter, CBS 6 reports that American Rock Salt was unable to meet demands. Because of this, agencies were forced to place emergency rock salt orders. While CBS 6 did not receive the amounts that the emergency rock salt cost, generally speaking, any 'emergency' purchase generally comes at a higher price than a planned out purchase. American Rock Salt released a statement on its website addressing the shortage issues, saying,

"American Rock Salt has been working diligently to meet the demand from local government customers across New York State for salt supply. We realize some municipalities are concerned about supply and we understand the frustration associated with this very difficult winter stressing our supply chain. We are extremely proud of the hard work of American Rock Salt’s 300+ strong union members’ efforts to maintain salt production levels to satisfy this unprecedented demand."

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