Morton Salt halts mining at Ohio's Fairport Harbor mine after water inflow
The gist
Morton Salt stopped mining at its Fairport Harbor, Ohio mine after a significant water inflow on Oct. 22.
Six Ohio counties rely on the mine for road salt.
How it unfolded
- Oct 22, 2026Morton Salt discovered a "significant inflow of water" in its Fairport Harbor, Ohio mine, evacuated all miners, halted underground operations and notified regulators; no injuries were reported. A federal safety order was issued, per a U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson.
- Oct 26, 2026Morton Salt announced in a press release that it had stopped mining at the Fairport, Ohio mine. It said surface activities would be severely limited while the mine is closed and that it would notify affected customers and vendors of the force majeure event.
- Oct 27, 2026Morton Salt planned to meet with employees at the Grand River Party Center at 6 a.m. Tuesday to brief them on the shutdown, according to Fox 8.