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Compass Minerals (NYSE:CMP) -4.4% pre-market Monday after saying the U.S. Forest Service will not enter into a contract for the use of magnesium chloride-based aerial fire retardants for the 2024 fire season.
During scheduled winter airtanker inspections as part of Forest Service field evaluations, it was discovered that certain airtankers that had flown Fortress North America’s magnesium chloride-based aerial fire retardants revealed significant signs of corrosion in areas where buildup of the retardant had occurred.
The findings raised aircraft safety concerns, prompting the Forest Service’s decision that it would be “unable to define the scope and associated terms and conditions of a new contract” with Compass (CMP) until the National Transportation Safety Board and National Institute of Standards and Technology fully assessed the findings, the company said.
“As we work collaboratively with the USFS, NTSB and NIST on the more detailed assessment to be conducted, we have to assume based on this new information that Fortress’ proprietary, magnesium chloride-based aerial fire-retardant formulation will not be utilized for the foreseeable future in the fight against wildfires,” President and CEO Ernest Dowling Jr. said.
