WV Bill Would Use Cleanup Funds for Tire Recycling

Backers of a high-tech tire recycling plant proposed for Apple Grove in Mason County, WV, are taking another crack at finding $30 million of state funding for the $300 million-plus complex.

A bill originated earlier this week in the Senate Economic Development Committee would divert $3 million a year from the Division of Highways' fund to clean up waste tire piles. The money would underwrite a bond issue for the proposed Intec-Petra plant.

Last year, the German-based company sought a $30 million grant from the state Economic Development Grant Committee, but ultimately was not among the projects certified to share in $215 million of video lottery bond funds.

Mike Basile, a Charleston attorney representing the developers, said the plant would use a high-tech process to shred, cryogenically freeze, and grind tires into material ready for recycling as tires or other polymer products. The plant would provide as many as 1,000 jobs for the county.

"It is a manufacturing process that's completely green," he said, noting that the plant site was once considered for a pulp and paper plant that drew the wrath of environmentalists in the region.

"This would be sweet revenge for people who challenged that project," Basile said.

Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, opposed the bill, saying diverting $3 million a year to the plant would leave almost no funding for tire pile cleanups around the state.

"I'm not opposed to this project. I understand the need for jobs in Mason County," he said. "If we start raiding this fund, we're not going to be able to clean up any future tire piles." Charleston (WV) Gazette