Wisconsin DNR Refers Watertown Tire Recycling Facility to DOJ

The Wiscconsin Department of Natural Resources has referred Watertown Tire Recyclers LLC to the state Department of Justice for alleged scrap tire storage and permit violations.

WTR is alleged to have violated its approved plans of operation covering tire storage and fire lanes at its 12-acre facility in Watertown, WI.

Watertown Recyclers is alleged to have stored more than three times its approved 2,000 ton limit of tire material on site. A Dec. 2004, DNR inspection found an estimated 6,500 tons stored at the facility. DNR is further alleging that WTR didn’t maintain adequate fire lanes at the facility.

WTR was the site of a fire last July that consumed buildings, equipment and thousands of scrap tires and took 106 fire departments six days to suppress. An investigation conducted by the state fire marshal was inconclusive as to the cause of the fire, although his report suggests that it started as the result of hot shredded tire debris in close proximity to a machine used to move tire shreds.

“There was no indication that the direct cause of the fire resulted from violations of the approved plan, but conditions on the WTR site may have contributed to the duration and gravity of the fire,” said Gene Mitchell, DNR waste team leader for the agency’s South Central Region at Fitchburg.

Besides possible forfeitures of up to $5,000 for each violation of its operating plan, DNR is seeking reimbursement from WTR for costs incurred by the agency associated with the July fire.

These include emergency actions to control off site impacts resulting from the fire; DNR staff time; laboratory costs for soil, surface water and private well water analysis; and state Environmental Repair Fund monies used for clean-up.

Reimbursement totals are still being tallied, according to Mitchell. WTR cleaned-up a significant part of the fire site by removing ash, tire debris and salvage metal from the facility, although low levels of contaminated soil remains stockpiled at the site and will require a management plan to insure protection of the area’s natural resources.

DNR and the state Department of Health & Family Services sampled and analyzed private well water in the vicinity of the fire and no fire related contaminants were detected above health standards.