Bill may speed cleanup at Wyandot tire facility

5/9/2001

DELTA - An amendment included in the two-year state budget passed by the Ohio House last week would ensure at least $5.6 million to shred and remove at least 15 million tires from the Kirby Tire Recycling site in Wyandot County.

An amendment sponsored by state Rep. Steve Buehrer (R., Delta) requires that at least 80 percent of a 50-cent increase in the scrap tire disposal fee go toward the Kirby cleanup. The budget would increase the fee from 50 cents to $1 per tire.

Mr. Buehrer said he offered the amendment to try to speed up the cleanup at Kirby, which the Ohio EPA has said could take 10 years.

The state attorney general's office filed contempt-of-court charges against the facility's owners in February, accusing them of ignoring court orders to clean up the site.