Wisconsin Agency Dealing with Tire Recycling Firm

A state Department of Natural Resources permit for a tire recycling firm to store tires west of Watertown expired last week, while a permit for the firm to continue hauling recyclable tires was reissued for another year.

The annual state permits for Watertown Tire Recyclers LLC, located in the Dodge County town of Shields expired last week, according to Gene Mitchell, DNR waste supervisor from Fitchburg.

Owner Thomas Springer was reissued a collection and transportation license "that allows him to bring tires, collect tires in smaller trucks and bring to the site on Provimi Road to load into larger semi-trucks to haul to larger tire recyclers," Mitchell explained. "He can't do anything with the tires on the site at this point," the DNR official added.

The license period for the tire recycling permits is Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, Mitchell said.

A tire fire in July completely destroyed the recycling facility, but the company has still been able to pick up used tires from the area, take them to the recycling plant on Provimi Road to transport to other tire recyclers.

The owner had applied for the renewal of licenses in spring when renewal notices were sent by the state, Mitchell said. But in June, the regulations changed that require owners to get engineering plans for a processing facility before a license can be issued, he added.

The state sent the company a letter on July 29 explaining the rule change, but no new application was received, Mitchell said. The owner was busy with clean up from the tire fire at the time, he added.

The state issued the collection and transportation license, but was denied renewal of the storage permit. The permit information and fees were returned to the company, Mitchell said.

The tire fire started July 19 in a front end loader that was moving recyclable tires around at the plant. The fire burned for days, sending large black plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen for hundreds of miles.

Many area neighbors had opposed the company's storage of tires on the site prior to the fire and had filed a suit in county court against the company.

With the collection and transportation licenses, the company can continue to move the tires through the facility, but they can not be stored on the site, Greg Matthews, DNR regional manager said.

"If he (the owner) wants to store materials there or process tires, he will have to apply for a new license," Matthews added.

"Tires can be brought to the site and transported elsewhere for processing," Matthews said. Company employees have been moving tires in and out of the area since the fire was extinguished.

Springer had reapplied for the storage permit under the old administrative code, Matthews said. "The ground rules have changed and now he has to apply under a new administrative code."

Springer has not applied for a new storage license under the new code, Matthews said. "To my knowledge, he hasn't reapplied," he added.

"He (Springer) has to start over if he wants to have a permit," according to Joe Brusca, the air and waste regional officials for the south-central DNR office.

The DNR has been in communications with the owner throughout the clean up efforts, Brusca said. The clean-up at the site is nearly completed, he added.

The company has the information needed to resubmit a permit application, Brusca said. Watertown (Wisconsin) Daily Times