JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (March 22, 2005) — As two scrap tire fires continued to smolder in Missouri, the state legislature considered three bills to reinstate the 50-cent scrap tire abatement fee that lapsed at the beginning of last year.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources estimates that 750,000 tires are burning in a quarry near Bolivar, Mo., said Beth Marsala, an enforcement section chief with the agency. The local fire department in western Ray County, Mo., is letting a fire in a pile of approximately 20,000 tires burn itself out, she added.
Of the three bills before the legislature, only one—a bill in the General Assembly that would re-impose the fee on new tires sold in Missouri till Jan. 1, 2008, and give preference in waste tire cleanups to Missouri-based companies—has moved out of committee, Ms. Marsala said.
The Missouri legislature is scheduled to adjourn May 13, she added.