By Seth Augenstein and MaryAnn Spoto/The Star-Ledger



Unable to secure a federal waiver to allow 40,000 tons of road salt stored on a foreign ship to sail for New Jersey, state officials today arranged for a smaller barge to pick up a quarter of the supply and transport it here.

The barge, now docked in Providence, R.I., will pick up 9,500 tons of the salt in Searsport, Maine, and arrive in Newark by early next week, said Joe Dee, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Although that amount would only be a small remedy for Jersey salt stockpiles severely depleted by vicious winter weather, Dee said, the delivery would arrive just ahead of yet another possible snowstorm.

"The situation is dire — there’s no question about it," Dee said today.

On Monday, state DOT Commissioner Jim Simpson said another storm could force officials to close interstates if enough salt isn’t available to coat the roads.

The delivery snag is the result of the 94-year-old Merchant Marine Act, also known as the Jones Act, which prohibits foreign vessels from making domestic shipments in the United States. Its intent is to protect American shipbuilding and maritime professions.

Securing a waiver requires that the goods requiring transport are a matter of national security and that no American vessel is otherwise available, according to maritime attorney Gino Zonghetti.

Simpson said on Monday there was no American vessel near Searsport, Maine.

Jones Act waivers are rare. The last time New Jersey was granted a waiver was during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 for oil shipments to the Northeast.

Although U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-N.J.) and U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.) sent letters today to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx urging that the salt supplies be expedited, no decision on a waiver had been made by this evening, according to a Homeland Security official.

But on Monday Simpson said he was told on Thursday that a waiver would not be granted. He was advised to find a U.S. vessel.

Pallone urged Johnson and Fox to grant the waiver. A shipping delay could endanger the public, he wrote.

"While I am a supporter of the Jones Act, I believe that this is an urgent public safety issue that must be addressed," Pallone wrote. "I ask that your agencies work together to quickly provide a Jones Act waiver for this shipment to provide New Jersey with additional rock salt reserves to ensure that the state has adequate resources to protect public safety during the next winter storm."

Booker and Menendez said they weren’t aware of the situation until Friday.

They noted that states have been granted administrative waivers for the transport of energy resources in emergency situations.

"Recognizing that such waivers require an inter-agency review of the national security merits of the waiver request, we appreciate the administration’s swift review," they said in their joint letter.

373,000 TONS USED

The initial 9,500-ton shipment is likely to remain with the state DOT for use, added agency spokesman Steve Schapiro.

So far this winter, the state has used more than 373,000 tons of salt on highways and major roads. It used 258,000 all of last winter, Dee said.

Simpson said the state needs the salt to arrive quickly, not by "a slow barge to Newark."

After the state ran low on salt because of a heavy run of winter storms, Simpson learned that Pennsylvannia-based International Salt had 40,000 tons of salt sitting at the port in Maine, according to Dee. He said Simpson inquired about it and was told that it was available. That was Feb. 7, Dee said.

But getting it south to the Garden State was another matter. The Anastasia S, a shipping vessel with a home port in the Marshall Islands, was headed empty from Searsport to Port Newark. Simpson asked if the ship could take the salt — already offloaded in Searsport — to New Jersey.

When the state did not obtain the waiver by Saturday, the Anastasia S. sailed for Port Newark without the salt, Simpson said.

International Salt shipments are expected to arrive in large quantities late this month, Dee said. Until then, the state will either use less salt or find ways to make the supply last, like mixing it with grit, Dee said.

"We will do everything we can — until the last rock," Dee said.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Low salt supplies could force interstate closures in snowstorms, DOT chief says

• Rock salt to be delivered to NJ held up because ship is not flying U.S. flag, report says

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