PA Board Upholds Tire Processor Closing

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board upheld an order by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection Southeast Regional requiring Tire Jockey Services, Inc., a waste tire processing facility in Fairless Hills, Pa., to cease operations and to remove approximately 75,000 waste tires stored at the site within 30 days.

According to Joseph Feola, Department of Environmental Protection Southeast Regional director, "We are pleased that the EHB has agreed with our position in this case. The illegal storage of discarded tires is a serious problem that must be dealt with decisively. We have seen in the past how much damage tires can cause if they are not managed properly. The EHB affirmed the Department’s authority to manage discarded tires as waste."

In the same decision, issued Dec. 23, 2002, the Environmental Hearing Board upheld the Department’s denial of Tire Jockey’s application for a residual waste processing permit and a $54,000 civil penalty assessed by the department against the company for operating a waste processing facility without a permit from the department.

Tire Jockey began operating at the Fairless Hills facility on land owned by USX in June 2000, without first obtaining a residual waste processing permit from DEP. The business involved collecting discarded tires from automobile and tire dealers and bringing them to the Fairless Hills location, where they were inspected and pressure tested. Tires deemed reusable were stored for possible sale. The rest were to be cut into pieces and used to manufacture other products, including floor mats and playground safety cover.

On January 22, 2001, because Tire Jockey was operating without a permit, DEP issued an Administrative Order and Civil Penalty. The Order required Tire Jockey to stop accepting and processing discarded tires, and to remove all such tires from the site. The company appealed both the order and the $54,000 penalty to the Environmental Hearing Board.

In the meantime, Tire Jockey submitted an application to operate under an existing general permit. That application was denied by DEP in June 2001 for several reasons, including the company’s failure to disclose that its president, Alfred Pignataro, had also been president of a former New Jersey tire business that amassed – and then abandoned - a large number of discarded tires. The cleanup required governmental intervention and subjected both the company and its president to court action by the Attorney General of New Jersey.

Tire Jockey also appealed DEP’s permit denial to the EHB.

Because the company continued to operate without a permit, the department, on Oct. 15, 2001, filed a Petition to Enforce its Administrative Order and Civil Penalty in Commonwealth Court. Shortly thereafter, Tire Jockey filed a Petition for Supersedeas with the EHB. The two sides then agreed to stay the Commonwealth Court proceeding pending resolution of the company’s Petition for Supersedeas.