BOISE, Idaho-The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality plans to turn over responsibility for waste tire disposal to the state's counties shortly after a statewide tire disposal fee expires next June, leaving the counties scrambling to find a mechanism for funding their own disposal programs. For the past four years, the DEQ has collected a $1 per tire fee on new-tire sales. In preparation for the changeover, Idaho's counties have drafted local tire disposal ordinances.
Although the local ordinances vary, the thrust is to control illegal tire piles, establish a permitting process for disposal facilities and regulate tire haulers.
Three funding options are under consideration:
Extending the state's $1-per-tire fee and passing the proceeds through to the counties;
Having the counties enact local tire disposal fees; or
Adjusting current solid waste fees so that a portion is directed to waste tire disposal.
VALLEJO, Calif.-An administrative law judge has fined a Vallejo auto dismantler $7,500 for failing to clean up a waste tire site.
It is the first tire site case the California Integrated Waste Management Board has brought before a judge, according to board attorney Suzanne Small.
``We're really not interested in fines as much as seeing these sites cleaned up, but in this case nothing else has worked,'' she said.
A county official said the site came under scrutiny in 1993 when smoke from a tire fire shut down operations at nearby Napa County Airport.
He estimated there were 15,000 tires on the site, none properly stored, and said investigators also found large numbers of automobile gas tanks, high-pressure industrial gas containers and open containers of used motor oil spilling onto the ground.
If the owner continues to do nothing, Ms. Small said the board may have to step in, have the cleanup done and attach the property to pay for the work.
FLAT ROCK, Mich.-Flat Rock's city council Sept. 13 approved a 50-percent tax abatement over six years to National Rubber Inc. for a new tire recycling facility.
The Toronto-based company plans to begin work on an $11.5 million facility before the end of October, said Ross Clark, vice president of finance and administration for National Rubber. It will process 4.5 million tires per year when completed in 1997.
The abatement is worth nearly $500,000 over the six years, said Flat Rock Mayor Richard Jones.
The plant, named National Rubber Michigan Inc., will grind tires and use the rubber and fiber to make parts used in new vehicles, said Mr. Clark.
HARRISBURG, Pa.-Pennsylvania legislators are continuing to consider a ban on whole tires from landfills in the state.
House Bill 1929 also aims to encourage private companies to recycle scrap tires by offering investment tax credits to new or existing companies for expanding the recycling of tires.
Under the proposal, generators of scrap tires would pay a $50per-year registration fee; haulers would pay a $25 annual fee.