The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has announced an additional $2,397,693 in state grants. The grant money was approved by the State of Michigan’s Administrative Board to help clean up approximately 1,852,817 scrap tires from sites across the state, Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester announced.
The DEQ announced on March 15, 2004, that 18 applicants were to receive grant awards of under $25,000 each, totaling $102,307, with funding made available under the authority of Part 169, Scrap Tires, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended. All state grants and contracts over $25,000 are required to be approved by the State Administrative Board. These additional 17 grants will bring the total of the funds granted under the Scrap Tire Cleanup Grant Program this year to $2,500,000.
The Program funds for this year will completely clean up 26 of the 35 tire sites receiving funding and will create critical fire lanes in the remaining 9 scrap tire accumulations. The grantees will have until August 2004 to complete contract requirements for having their tires removed, processed, and used by an end-user acceptable to the DEQ.