‘The secret’s in the cheese.”
It’s a phrase frequently used by foodies, as well as a lyric in Mark Knopfler’s song, “My Parties.”
But it also pops up in another composition: the Washington Department of Transportation’s de-icing compound.
A recent Columbian story explained the difference between the salt brine de-icing agent used on Washington roads and the salt-free chemical de-icer used in Oregon.
The difference appears to be significant, at least in comparing Columbia Gorge highways. State Highway 14 traffic can flow through Clark and Skamania counties while Oregon motorists are blocked by wintertime closures of Interstate 84.
Paul Simonsen, maintenance superintendent for the DOT in Chehalis, said his salt brine de-icer uses the outwash generated in the cheese-making process.
He said Darigold’s cheese factory in Yakima washes the cheese whey with water, creating as much as 11,000 gallons of salty water each day. With a 6 percent salt solution, the company can’t just dump it into a handy river or lake.
The company has typically hauled the outwash in tanker trucks to Seattle for treatment before it’s discharged into Puget Sound. That costs money.
“Darigold’s more than happy to bring it to me for nothing,” Simonsen said.
DOT workers mix in more salt to get a 23.3 percent solution, but that’s not the only food product in the recipe. To offset the corrosi;ve nature of the salt, they mix in de-sugared molasses, which also helps the brine stick to road surfaces longer.
Repossessing the school house
Some public/private building transfers go better than others, and Yacolt is a good example.
Yacolt’s new town hall is a success story. Yacolt purchased the building from a Masonic lodge. The town council is slated to hold its first meeting in the new municipal center today.
An 1894 newspaper story — headlined “Yacolt now has no school house” — recapped a not-so-smooth hand-over:
“The county commissioners had deeded the district an acre of land, and volunteer labor had put up a building. Then it was discovered that by error the building was on a homestead belonging to D.C. Greenwalt, who had sold it to a stranger. The latter forcibly entered the school house, threw out the furniture and moved in. Strange to say, there seems to be no remedy at law!”
Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story, or just tell a story.
