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in this problem. It is the county manager's understanding that the
family has requested assistance from the State in receiving some
clean-up funds set aside for the purpose of cleaning up tire dumps.
Commissioner Boone advised that it had been two years and
three months since the tire shredder was leased to the Guy family.
Mr. Boone also advised that he had talked to the county attorney
recently and was told that two years ago the State did not have any
financial assistance programs for this type of problem; however, it
is his understanding this may have changed.
Paul Crissman, Supervisor with the Special Waste Branch of the
Solid Waste Section of the Department of Health and Natural
Resources was in the audience, and he said that, he, too, felt the
tire dump was a dangerous public health threat. His section has
evaluated over 200 sites across North Carolina and this site is in
the "dirty dozen." Their rating system is based on the number of
tires, proximity to ground water/surplus water, proximity to public
places, e.g., schools, hospitals, and residential areas. Based on
their maximum of 100 points, which is a site in excess of one
million tires in threatening areas, this site is an 85. A front
yard that doesn't have any tires would be a zero.
The State just recently established a program to help in the
alleviation of tire dump problems. The tax on the sale of new
tires went up around two years ago. This assisted the State in
reimbursing counties for providing free disposal of current
generation of tires so this type of problem would not happen in the
future. Secondly, the fund was established to help clean-up scrap
tires across the State. The two sites in North Carolina that had
over a million tires are under bid and under contract. One of
these sites, in Pender County, should be cleaned up by mid-June of
this year. The State anticipates letting four contracts for sites
that have in excess of 100,000 tires in the next couple of days.
The Iredell site will fall into this category.
Crissman acknowledged that if a fire did occur that people
should stay out of the smoke. Firemen should be told what they
were going in to fight, because smoke from a burning tire is a
public threat. The mosquitoes (Asian type) can carry diseases to
humans; however, the State does not have any documented cases.
Anson County had a scare of this type, but the site was cleaned up.
The Iredell site is not the most pressing, since some of the dumps
with lesser tires were cleaned up because of their close proximity
to hospitals or schools. The State has been using prison labor to
load the tires onto county -provided vehicles. Crissman also stated
that one reason the Iredell site was really not looked at until now
was because the County had been proactive, or it started something
(court action) before the State became involved.
If there is a site with a recalcitrant owner, the State has to
go through a lengthy court process just to gain access to the site.
This naturally compounds the process.
Crissman advised that yesterday (April 17, 1995) the State
formally started the enforcement process to give them possession of
the site. In addition, he said the State's action is not a "help"
program, but an enforcement program. It is a program that in
essence means that when the clean-up is accomplished the owner
(responsible party) will be sued for recovery of costs. It is not
a grant or assistance program, it is an enforcement program. The
costs would be in excess of $100,000 to clean the site. The
estimate on the number of tires at the tire dump is from 170,000
(State estimation) to as many as 250,000. The estimate is anyone's
guess since it's difficult to estimate the number of tires in a
ravine -- they just do not know how deep the ravine could be. The
State's bids range from $1.04 per tire (a very inaccessible area)
to $.84 per tire (easy access). The Guy property is somewhat
accessible, and Crissman estimated it would take around $120,000, 051
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