One of the largest salt mines in the world exists under Lake Erie

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — Below Cleveland, in a subterranean world many surface dwellers don’t know exists, miners extract a crucial winter mineral — salt.

The Whiskey Island salt mine, owned by food giant Cargill, helps supply road salt across the Northeast and Great Lakes, where a colder, snowier-than-usual winter has driven demand. Many municipalities exhausted supplies that typically last through spring, said Cargill spokesperson Emily Tangeman.

“Our teams have been working overtime since September to support customers across the snowbelt,” Tangeman said, noting that early, persistent winter weather boosted demand across the industry.

The mine beneath Lake Erie, one of the world’s largest, produces 3 million to 4 million tons (2.7 million to 3.6 million metric tons) annually, although that can fall short of demand in especially harsh winters.

Located 1,800 feet (549 meters) underground, it's accessed from Whiskey Island, an industrial area on the shore right beside downtown Cleveland. The mine opened in the 1960s and operates year-round, with salt extracted by drilling and blasting through vast tunnels formed from an ancient inland sea that dried up millions of years ago.

Inside, the mine is a maze of roughly rectangular caverns with chalky white walls and ceilings that extend for miles. It’s dimly lit and often pitch-black beyond the glare of headlamps and floodlights. Heavy machinery and conveyer belts rumble as small ATVs whisk miners around.

Maintenance superintendent George Campbell said operations are continuous, with downtime used for upkeep and repairs to keep production steady. Cargill said it is prioritizing shipments to ensure salt reaches the areas of greatest need as winter lingers in some regions. Frequent smaller storms also increase usage, Tangeman said, requiring repeated salting and creating logistical challenges.

A return to harsher conditions across the Eastern U.S. meant some cities — including Boston; Bangor, Maine; and Ithaca, New York — shivered through their coldest seasons in more than a decade. And winter weather is still not over in some parts of the country, so it’s not over in the Cleveland mine, either.

Campbell said there’s still decades of salt left to be extracted.

“I think that we have enough reserves to continue to keep people working for a long time,” Campbell said.

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

A seagull flies past piles of the finished product, de-icing solution - rock salt - at the Cargill Cleveland salt mine on Whiskey Island before being distributed by truck, rail and boat to Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana and Minnesota, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

The absolute darkness of the mine is broken as supervisor Andrew Adkins uses a headlamp to lookover a map of drilling sites at the Cargill Salt Mine, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

The salt, formed 440 million years ago, is mucked up and loaded onto a conveyor belt 1,800 feet below Lake Erie in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Salt pillars, left behind for support during mining, line the tunnels in the Cargill salt mine in, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie on Whiskey Island in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Relief holes are drilled into a face in the Cargill salt mine, 1,800 feet below the surface of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with internet service provider Cox Communications in its copyright fight with record labels over illegal music downloads by Cox customers.

The justices ruled unanimously that Cox bears no liability for the copyright violations of its customers, reversing a jury verdict and lower-court rulings.

“Cox neither induced its users’ infringement nor provided a service tailored to infringement,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court in an opinion that acknowledged that the record labels “have struggled to protect their copyrights in the age of online music sharing.”

The company, in a statement, praised the court for affirming that internet service providers "are not copyright police.”

The music companies, by contrast, voiced disappointment over the ruling. Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, said the verdict was “based on overwhelming evidence that the company knowingly facilitated theft.”

The court acted in a lawsuit led by Sony Music Entertainment that said Cox did not do enough to deter or cut off customers who downloaded music they did not pay for.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had partially upheld a jury verdict against Cox, but it threw out its award of more than $1 billion.

Cox Communications provides internet service to more than 6 million homes and businesses in more than a dozen states. The company warned of widespread disruptions in access if the justices ruled against it.

Cox said it could be required to terminate access for households, hospitals, universities and coffee shops based on a “couple accusations of infringement.”

FILE - The Supreme Court in Washington, Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)