Pennsylvania DEP Takes Legal Action Against Starr Tire Pile Generators

On behalf of Governor Edward G. Rendell, Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty today announced that DEP has filed a Complaint In Equity in Columbia County Court against 21 tire generators who have refused to remove waste tires taken from their businesses years ago to the Starr tire pile in Greenwood Township, Columbia County.

“DEP is not going to allow these companies to ignore what is clearly their legal responsibility under the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act,” Secretary McGinty said during a visit to the state’s largest waste tire pile. “These companies brought thousands of tires to an unpermitted disposal site, and the time has come for them to be removed and disposed of properly. Fairness, competitiveness and the public’s right to a clean and healthy environment all demand that those actors be dealt with firmly and swiftly.”

The complaint asks the court to require each generator to remove its share of the waste tires that it brought to the site, and to assess a civil penalty of $100 per day against any generator who fails to comply with the court’s order.

DEP was able to determine the names of some of the tire generators and the approximate number of tires taken to the Starr property by reviewing old records kept by the Starr family, which owned the waste tire pile.

Staff from DEP’s Northcentral Regional Office have been working on individual legal agreements with tire generators since April, and were successful in having 10 generators agree to remove a total of 130,000 tires, with all costs paid for by the generators. However, another 21 generators refused to cooperate, resulting in DEP’s legal action.

The General Assembly appropriated $6.8 million in the 2004-05 budget to DEP for the cleanup of scrap tires, including $2 million secured specifically for work at the Starr Tire Pile. That funding is essential to DEP’s aggressive effort to clean up the site and make responsible generators remove waste tires that accumulated at the property in the mid-1980s.

A legal agreement signed in March 2004 by DEP and the Starrs granted the agency unrestricted access to the Starr property and required the Starrs to pay a $400,000 civil penalty.

“After years of deadlock, the Rendell administration succeeded in bringing about progress on this issue by—for the first time ever—securing a court injunction against the Starrs, freezing their assets until such time as they made good to the Commonwealth,” Secretary McGinty said.

In addition, DEP’s Office of Energy and Technology Development currently is reviewing proposals from private industry to beneficially reuse some of the waste tires, and the department has launched a new Starr Waste Tire Reuse Grant Program to help fund projects that will create markets for the use of waste tires.

The grant program will fund projects that create new products from used tires that are stockpiled in Pennsylvania, while improving the environment, supporting economic development and enhancing quality of life. The department is particularly interested in supporting proposals that are market-driven, create jobs and generate economic development within the state.

For more information on waste tires, visit DEP’s Web site at www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword: “DEP Starr Tires.”

ATTN. EDITORS: Below is a list of the 21 waste tire generators who are included in the legal action that DEP filed in Columbia County Court:

Blue Chip Transport – Exton, Chester County

Borino Tire – Pittston, Luzerne County

Borino’s OK Tire Inc. – Kingston, Luzerne County

Bristol Township – Bristol, Bucks County

C&E Tires Inc. – Sussex, N.J.

Cee-Kay Auto – Moosic, Lackawanna County

Frey’s Tires – Williamsport, Lycoming County

GoodYear Tire & Rubber Co. – Harrisburg, Dauphin County

GoodYear Tire Co. – Levittown, Bucks County

Grossman’s Inc. – Stoughton, Mass.

Kelleher Tire Service Inc. – Scranton, Lackawanna County

Kmart – Hackettstown, N.J.

LaBar Truck Rental – Bloomsburg, Columbia County

Llads Ventures – Conestoga, Lancaster County

McCarthy Tire Service Centers – Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

Moon’s Tire Service – Oreland, Montgomery County

Larry Follweiler – Bath, Northampton County

Mustangs Stable – Philadelphia

Roll’n Tire Co. – Wenonah, N.J.

Sandone Tire – Scranton, Lackawanna County

Yost Tire & Auto Service – Benton, Columbia County