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11/27/2000 14:11 916-255-2220 CIWMB PUBLIC AFFAIRS PAGE 02 Draft Press Release Engineers and health officials do not anticipate any offsite exposure to smoke during the project. The Waste Board's contractor, Sukut Construction (www.sukut.com) of Santa Ana, California is experienced in tire site cleanup and tire fire remediation. Sukut was the Board's contractor for cleanup of the Panoche burn site in Fresno County in 1996-97. A final report of the Panoche bum site remediation project is available on the Board's website at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/tiredispoW/fires/Panoche/. On August 7, 1998, an estimated seven million tires being illegally stored at the Royster tire site were ignited. Because of the site's geography - it's basically a bowl �- environmental and fire officials determined that the best strategy was to let the tires burn. This decision was made to avoid the creation of a more significant problem that would have occurred had large volumes of water been applied in a fire suppression effort. Such an effort would have produced an enormous volume of liquid hazardous wastes resulting from the mixture of water and pyrolytic oil, a by-product of burning tires. Once the fire is extinguished, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will initiate site characterization activities to determine the residual contamination on the property. That work will likely begin early in 2001. Remediation plans will be developed after the site has been analyzed. The Waste Board approved a spending plan of$364, 925 in October for the fire suppression effort and in the future may consider additional funding for the cleanup effort. The State's improved tire law, enacted through SB 876 (Escutia/Cardoza), takes effect January 1, 2001. SB 876 increases from $0.25 to $1.00 the per tire fee collected on the sale of new tires that funds the State waste tire cleanup, enforcement and market development programs. In passing the bill, the Legislature earmarked a minimum of $5 million a year for tire cleanup projects that will include the Royster site as well as the Filbin tire fire site near the western Stanislaus County community of Westley.