More than 4.3 million waste tires will be eliminated statewide in West Virginia by the end of 2003, a legislative audit released Sunday shows.
The state Division of Highways' $6.1 million tire collection fund is more efficient than legislators envisioned when they passed a law creating the program in 2000. The measure's objective was to clean tire piles within 10 years at a cost of up to $36 million.
The audit recommends a continuation of the fund. A $5 surcharge on motor vehicles generates about $3.6 million per year for the fund, which is expected to have a $5 million balance at the end of the year.
The waste tire program's manager, Jim Riggs, told the Joint Committee on Government Operations Sunday that most tires have been shredded and buried near Summersville.
While the shredded tires presently have little value, he said they eventually could be used as fuel in power plants if energy prices rise.
"We'd be turning a landfill into a strip mine,'' said Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, D-Wyoming.
A law passed this year requires the waste tire fund to pay $2.5 million each year to a $30 million bond issue which would cover site preparation and infrastructure costs of a proposed tire recycling plant in Mason County.
Bonds cannot be sold until Applied Cryogenics U.S. raises $350 million in private funding for the $1.2 billion facility which would supercool and disintegrate 80 million tires each year.
Critics say the process would not be cost-effective, while company officials argue that the dust generated during the recycling process could be used to produce new tires. - The Charleston (W.V.) Gazette
The state Division of Highways' $6.1 million tire collection fund is more efficient than legislators envisioned when they passed a law creating the program in 2000. The measure's objective was to clean tire piles within 10 years at a cost of up to $36 million.
The audit recommends a continuation of the fund. A $5 surcharge on motor vehicles generates about $3.6 million per year for the fund, which is expected to have a $5 million balance at the end of the year.
The waste tire program's manager, Jim Riggs, told the Joint Committee on Government Operations Sunday that most tires have been shredded and buried near Summersville.
While the shredded tires presently have little value, he said they eventually could be used as fuel in power plants if energy prices rise.
"We'd be turning a landfill into a strip mine,'' said Sen. Billy Wayne Bailey, D-Wyoming.
A law passed this year requires the waste tire fund to pay $2.5 million each year to a $30 million bond issue which would cover site preparation and infrastructure costs of a proposed tire recycling plant in Mason County.
Bonds cannot be sold until Applied Cryogenics U.S. raises $350 million in private funding for the $1.2 billion facility which would supercool and disintegrate 80 million tires each year.
Critics say the process would not be cost-effective, while company officials argue that the dust generated during the recycling process could be used to produce new tires. - The Charleston (W.V.) Gazette
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