Illinois EPA refers Lon's Tire Recyclers to Attorney General for enforcement

SPRINGFIELD—Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Director Doug Scott has asked the Illinois Attorney General to take the necessary legal actions to prevent Lonnie Wayne Sinclair, doing business as Lon's Tire Recyclers, from illegally accumulating, storing or disposing used and waste tires, and to properly remove and dispose of all used and waste tires currently stored at his illegal tire storage site just off of East Clary Street in northeast Petersburg.

 

A recent inspection by the Illinois EPA, with assistance from the Illinois Department of Public Health, revealed thousands of used and waste tires at the site, with hundreds of them located outside.  Many of the tires contained water and mosquito larvae, of the type that is the primary carrier of the West Nile Virus, as well as other mosquito-related diseases.  Additionally, Lon's Tire Recyclers is not currently registered with the Illinois EPA to store or dispose used or waste tires at the East Clary Street site.

 

The location of the used and waste tires is within a few blocks of a nursing home, a Head Start school and playground, and residences, significantly adds to the public health threat posed by the site conditions.

 

In an effort to prevent the mosquito larvae from emerging from the tires as adult mosquitoes, the Illinois EPA treated the used and waste tires located outside with a larvicide designed specifically for use in tires.  This treatment will ensure that adult mosquitoes that are capable of carrying the West Nile virus will not emerge from the used and waste tires at this site until such time that the tires are removed and properly disposed.

 

In March 2005, Lon's Tire Recyclers was referred to the Attorney General for numerous violations at a former used tire storage site, located just off of Route 97 in southeast Petersburg.  That case is still pending.  Used and waste tires remain at that site, which is not registered with the Illinois EPA as a used tire storage site.

 

If the responsible party does not take the appropriate preventive or corrective actions, the Illinois EPA will conduct an immediate used and waste tire removal action and seek to recover costs up to three times the cost of the cleanup from the responsible party.  

 

The Illinois EPA will continue to provide the Attorney General with technical and legal support as needed.