Ohio EPA orders cleanup.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the owner of Ray's Wrecking, based in Toledo, Ohio, to clean up an estimated 15,000 scrap tires illegally disposed of on the property.

The business has been given 120 days to remove all the scrap tires from its property and to have them legally disposed of by a licensed transporter at a licensed disposal facility. The orders require the business to take immediate mosquito control measures to prevent breeding.

Violations of Ohio's open dumping and scrap tire laws were discovered at the facility in April 1997 during an inspection conducted by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. The health department worked with the owner of Ray's Wrecking for several years, but the violations went unresolved. Ohio EPA first inspected the property in July 1999 and cited a number of violations, however the owner did not comply with instructions to clean up the tires.

During the most recent inspection Nov. 12, 2004, Ohio EPA and the health department observed a large, elongated pile of scrap tires on the property. Violations cited were open dumping, failure to maintain fire lanes, failure to keep tire pile height and base area within maximum dimensions, failure to use mosquito control, operating a solid waste facility without a registration or permit and operating a scrap tire facility without a license.