Adjust Text Size

For Immediate Release
May 10, 1999

White: State Budget Targets Old Tire Piles For Cleanup

Harrisburg – The 1999-2000 state budget signed Wednesday by Gov. Tom Ridge includes help to rid communities of unhealthy and unsightly waste tire piles, Sen. Mary Jo White (R-21), Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said today.

Legislators added $2 million to the budget to fund the Municipal Grants for Waste Tire Remediation program after the administration had proposed no funding, White said.

Toxic tire fires and disease-carrying mosquitoes are among the hazards associated with waste tire piles, the senator added.

"These are accidents waiting to happen. Tire fires are difficult to extinguish and dangerous," she said.

The grants are available to municipalities to clean up "priority waste tire piles" – those identified by the state Department of Environmental Protection as containing 10,000 or more tires.

There are six such tire piles littering the 21st Senatorial District, White noted.

In Butler County, there are 3 sites: one in Allegheny Township (15,000 tires); one in Lancaster Township (350,000 tires); and one in Summit Township (65,000 tires).

Clarion County has one site in Madison Township containing 100,000 tires. In Lawrence County, a site in Slippery Rock (10,000 tires) and one in Washington Township (35,000 tires) are among those listed.

White said the Lancaster Township site in Butler was the target of a $125,000 remediation grant awarded last December. She urged other municipalities with problem tire piles to apply for grants.

Tires can be recycled and used as fuel for in several industries, including the cement and power utility industries, she said. Old tires can also be used for safety padding in playgrounds.

"We need to keep chipping away at these old problems as well as preventing new accumulations," White said.