Cleanup Work to Begin at Illegal Tire Pile on Nipomo Mesa

SACRAMENTO—After months of negotiations, a final agreement was signed today that will send the illegally stockpiled tires on County Supervisor Ruth Brackett's Nipomo Mesa property to the Chicago Grade Landfill in Atascadero, where they will be shredded and used as daily cover.

"I'm pleased to announce that work can now begin to clean up one of the largest tire piles in California," said California Integrated Waste Management Board Chairman Daniel G. Pennington. "This day has been a long, frustrating time coming, but I'm pleased that we've reached an agreement that is suitable for the Bracketts, Chicago Grade, and the desire of the State to eliminate this serious environmental threat."

Cleanup work is expected to begin at Nipomo site in early January.

The Waste Board estimates that there are approximately 1 million tires on site. Under the agreement, Chicago Grade is to remove at least 15,000 tires each week over the course of the next 18 months, totaling 1 million tires. If there are more than 1 million tires, the State will determine whether or not to continue the cleanup project with Chicago Grade.

The project will involve removing the tires and shredding them before they are shipped to Chicago Grade where they will serve a beneficial end use as alternative daily cover (ADC). Because of the variables involved in using the tires as ADC-such as weather, size of shredded tires, and available storage space at the landfill-the Waste Board allowed Chicago Grade some flexibility by allowing the company up to 18 months to remove the tires.

All landfill operators in California are required to cover disposed solid waste at the end of each working day, to control animals and insects, fires, odors, blowing litter, and scavenging. The cover can be either earthen material or ADC, such as the tire shreds that will be used at Chicago Grade.

The cost of the cleanup, estimated at approximately $450,000 for 1 million tires, will come from the State's Tire Recycling Cleanup Fund, an account funded by the 25 cent-per-tire fee paid when consumers buy tires in California. A portion of the cost will be covered by the requirement that the Bracketts turn over the property to Chicago Grade once the site is cleaned.

Because of the ability to work out an agreement with the local landfill, overall cleanup costs of 45 cents per tire will be much lower than usual Board-funded tire site cleanups. The average cost of recent cleanups of other, smaller tire piles is approximately $1.30 per tire.

Since May 1995, the Waste Board has issued numerous warning letters and two cleanup and abatement orders, but no tires were removed. Negotiations to determine how to eliminate the tire pile then stalled over the Bracketts' refusal to clear and allow access to the site. This matter was not resolved until early October, after the Attorney General's office filed an injunction ordering the Bracketts to grant access. Four days prior to a scheduled court hearing on the matter, the Bracketts consented to access and negotiations resumed.

The tire pile problem began in 1989 when the Bracketts signed a five-year lease with the late Bud Steers and allowed him to operate a tire collection and recycling businesses at the site. Tires were collected in the hope of selling them to the now-defunct Rialto Power Plant in Southern California. Steers eventually abandoned the site in 1991, leaving behind the stockpile.

The six-member Integrated Waste Management Board is responsible for protecting the public's health and safety and the environment through management of the 46 million tons of solid waste generated in California each year. The Board's mandate is to work in partnership with local government, industry, and the public to achieve a 50 percent reduction in waste disposed by the year 2000, while ensuring environmentally safe landfill disposal capacity. Currently, California's diversion rate is at an all-time high of 30 percent, exceeding the national average for the first time.

The Waste Board is one of six boards and departments within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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