The removal of a tire pile in Athalia will happen sooner than expected – and cost less as well.

Saturday, July 28, 2001

The removal of a tire pile in Athalia will happen sooner than expected – and cost less as well.

The county will save $25,000-$30,000 on the removal of the tires because of a decision by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to give the pile the status of solid waste instead of scrap tires.

The Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization will begin soliciting bids from licensed solid waste disposers to remove the tires, Doug Cade, CAO special projects director, said.

As scrap tires, the county would have to pay $1 to $2.50 for each tire’s disposal in a landfill, but now the cost is $36 per ton of waste.

With the fees a contractor will charge, the disposal is now expected to cost between $10,000 and $15,000, Cade said.

Although no schedule has been established yet, the cleanup could begin as soon as August and be completed in early September rather than December as was expected before the reclassification of the waste, he said.

"I think that’s great," county commissioners George Patterson and Jason Stephens said simultaneously of Cade’s proposal at Wednesday’s commission meeting.

The property on which the tires are located is on State Route 7 and belongs to Brian Fancher. The tires were on the site when Fancher purchased it.

The tires have been set on fire four times since 1995, most recently on July 7. Each fire is believed to be an act of arson, and the fire and the smoke are a hazard to people in the area.

Mosquitos attracted by the tires are a health concern.

"(The pile) needs to be gone now," Stephens said. "It is a severe problem."

The tires may be hauled to a landfill in Kentucky or to a Pike County landfill, but the decision will be made by the contractor hired for the job, Cade said.

The tires began to be removed in April 1999.

The state has already spent approximately $16,000 on the clean-up. The County Commissioners and the Lawrence-Scioto Joint Solid Waste Management District have applied for a $40,000 grant from the Ohio EPA to complete the project.

"We are high priority for a grant," Cade said.

The grant’s recipient will be announced Oct. 1.

County Commission president Paul H. Herrell sent a letter July 17 requesting additional assistance from the Ohio EPA’s Scrap Tire Abatement Fund, but this funding may not be needed due to the Ohio EPA’s decision.

The county has a special account with a balance of $10,000 that can be used so that the removal can begin before the grant money is released. If the county spends money on the clean-up prior to receiving this grant, the grant funds can be applied to those expenses, Cade said.

Any additional funding beyond what is required for the tire clean-up would still be used, "because there are other sites in the county," Cade said.