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TIRE FIRE to clean it up, said Chris Peck, a His lawyers could not be reached ny currently is shopping for a
<br /> spokesman for the California for immediate comment. buyer.
<br /> Integrated Waste Management In April, the state Attorney Ed Tomeo, president of Modesto
<br /> Continued from Al Board. General's Office filed a civil suit Energy Limited, said the company
<br /> "Chuck" er,to clean the site "We're not real excited about against Edward and Mary Min, is talking with one potential buyer,
<br /> t the way it's being handled;' Cox the Filbin Family Trust, Oxford interested in resuming the tire-
<br /> because of the fire danger Royster said."We've learned just how slow- and other companies affiliated burning operation to generate
<br /> died 11 days after the fire started. ly the wheels of government can with the tire-incineration plant. electricity.
<br /> Authorities have chosen to let the
<br /> 'Ila blaze burn itself out before �' The suit, issued on behalf of the Selling the plant, however, has
<br /> Racy Roughly 2 million tires were left waste-management board and been complicated by the fact that
<br /> beginning what is expected to be unscathed by the fire. Half of other agencies involved in the it has been idle for months,
<br /> a long and expensive cleanup. them were incinerated at the adja- case, seeks penalties, restitution Tomeo said.
<br /> With cleanup efforts at the cent power-generation plant oper- and the recovery of costs associat- "It definitely has had some
<br /> Westley site underway, residents ated by Modesto Energy Limited ed with the court-ordered cleanup impact:'
<br /> are still worried about the fire's Partnership, a subsidiary of United at the site, said Sandra Michioku, Any suitors will have to meet
<br /> potential long-term effects on pub- American Energy Corp. Another a spokeswoman with the Attorney strict standards set by the San
<br /> lic health and the environment. million oversized tires have been General's Office in Sacramento. Joaquin Valley Air Pollution
<br /> "On (damp) evenings, we can shredded or sheared into smaller Some estimates put the cost at Control District and the waste
<br /> still smell the stench coming off pieces and hauled off to area more than $20 million, Michioku beard before they will be allowed
<br /> that thing, which means we are landfills, Peck said Thursday. said. Prosecutors joined the legal to resume operations, Peck said.
<br /> still breathing that stuff," said "Most of those tires were par- fray, filing a civil suit in May seek- At most, the waste board's per-
<br /> Westley resident Karen Cox, who tially burned or contaminated with ing penalties for "violations that mit would allow about 400,000
<br /> heads a citizens' watchdog group ash," said George Stillman, public were committed on and before the passenger--car tires to be stored at
<br /> formed after the fire erupted. works director for Stanislaus fire was discovered," said Stacey the site at one time. Tomeo said
<br /> Its still a big mess out there County, which buried tons of the Geis, environmental circuit attor- that's the equivalent of about three
<br /> t needs to be cleaned up,
<br /> d " Cox shredded rubber at its Fmk Road ney with the California District weeks, worth of fuel at the plant.
<br /> .d. landfill. Attorneys Association, which pro- "Certainly there were some
<br /> More than 300 residents sought According to waste-board vides services to Northern lessons learned;' Peck said of the
<br /> treatment last fall at Stanislaus records, Filbin had been stockpil- California counties. Westley blaze. "It is very clear that
<br /> County-sponsored health clinics ing tires on the property since the The suit names the Filbins, if anything happens now it will be
<br /> for asthma and a variety of other 1950s and once had as many as Oxford Tine and other companies ander permit. It's a whole new
<br /> ailments activists believe were trig- 30 million stored there. as defendants. gee.p
<br /> gered by the fire. State environmental enforcers "This will be Ion g litigation;' Cox said residents on the West
<br /> "There were a lot more than have been trying for more than Geis said. "We'll go all the way if Side have mixed feelings over
<br /> that, but those were the ones who two decades to get Filbin to we need to, but there's always a whether the plant should reopen.
<br /> filled out health forms;' Cox said. remove the mounds of rubber, chance the parties will resolve "Some people think it would be
<br /> Several residents would like saying they posed fire and envi- this." best to fire it up," Cox said, noting
<br /> long-term health monitoring, but ronmental hazards. Prosecutors have been in con- waste tires are an environmental
<br /> so far the county and state have Filbin sold the tire-collection tact with the Filbins and their problem statewide. "But the other
<br /> resisted, she said. business to Oxford Tie Recycling attorneys, but Geis said she could half says absolutely not, not until
<br /> Authorities have formally in 1987, but retained ownership of not discuss those conversations. that site is clean as a whistle and
<br /> labeled the property a toxic site the land. United American took Last January, United American there are poppies blooming on the
<br /> and environmental experts are over the tire-incineration plant shut down the power-generation hills:,
<br /> continuing to conduct tests to from Oxford in 1993. plant in Westley when it became
<br /> determine exactly what hazardous Fdbm has not been available for difficult for tire suppliers to make ■ To reach reporter Abbie Dutcher,
<br /> materials are out there and how comment since the fire erupted. deliveries to the site. The compa- qhs 23.43361.
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