It's a dirty shame the Missouri General Assembly failed to renew the state's scrap tire fee, putting the successes of its scrap tire recycling program in jeopardy.
State legislators, expecting the renewal to pass, loaded up the amendment with pork, then failed to approve 10 different bills that would have reinstated the fee.
So now the state's scrap tire effort has lost its financial backing and must stand on its own. In the short term, we expect it will.
But the scrap tire business is fragile. It needs state support to enforce scrap tire regulations, provide seed money to help in market development and to fund stockpile abatement.
Missourians will find out quickly how important that assessment of 50 cents per new tire sold really is to their state's scrap tire program.