War on scrap tires costly but effective

By Gavin Off
The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS - Since 1998, the state has spent more than $27 million to clean up more than 41 million illegal scrap tires.

While some companies have paid for cleanups, many leave the tab for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In nine years, the agency has had to do a lot of the work itself and has recouped costs from only one company responsible for piles of tires that threaten the environment and public health.

"Cost recovery is very difficult," said Chris Newman, scrap-tire program coordinator for Region 5 of the U.S. EPA. "It is something a lot of states have wrangled with."...Read more.