West Valley Citizens Air Watch * Cupertino, CA * 408 973 1085

March 7, 2003

Board Members, CIWMB
8800 Cal Center Drive
Sacramento, CA  95826

Re: Two Year Revision of Five Year California Waste Tire Program: Revisions

Dear Board Members:

West Valley Citizen's Air Watch (WVCAW) is a citizen group organized to monitor air quality issues and promote true recycling of used tires. We have conducted extensive research into the area of pollution emissions from burning tires for fuel in cement kilns, and into the true recycling options and solutions for used/"scrap" tires.

Members of WVCAW are unable to attend the workshop on Friday, March 7, 2003, at the CIWMB; therefore, we are sending you written input for your consideration and for the record.

We are hopeful that the Board members, and in particular the members of the Special Waste Committee, will take a fresh look at this issue, not be unduly influenced by outdated approaches, and will follow and implement California recycling laws.

Any promotion of, direct or indirect subsidy of, or acceptance of burning tires for fuel by the CIWMB is taking a step backwards. The State of California and the CIWMB should be leading the nation in promoting and supporting source reduction and true recycling of used tires.

Burning is NOT recycling.

We ask that the 5 Year Tire Plan and the proposed 2 Year Revision of the 5 Tire Plan both be revised and brought into compliance with California law as follows:

CALIFORNIA LAWS

*   PRC 40180 which defines recycling concludes with, "'Recycling' does not include transformation, as defined in Section 40201." (bold added)

*   The direction provided by and goal of SB 876 is to recycle tires. SB 876 cites PRC 42889, "Funding for the waste tire program shall be appropriated to the board in the annual Budget Act...for the following purposes: (g) To assist in developing markets and new technologies for used tires and waste tires. The board's expenditure of funds for purposes of this subdivision shall reflect the priorities for waste management practices specified in subdivision (a) of PRC Section 40051." (bold added)

*   PRC 40051 is a priority hierarchy. At the top and first is Source Reduction; secondly, and in the middle, is Recycling (see PRC 40180); and finally, and at the bottom, is both Transformation (see PRC 40180) and Land filling. Transformation represents a failure of the State of California and the CIWMB to implement the goals, intents, and requirements of California laws.

The 5 year plan's objectives and the proposed 2 year revision should be revised to reflect and comply with the laws cited above, otherwise the 5 year and the 2 year plan fail to comply with the spirit, goals, and provisions of these laws. Tire fund expenditures should not be used for either direct or indirect subsidies for tire burning for fuel, whether characterized as "TDF (Tire Derived Fuel)", "transformation," "energy recovery" or other such terms or euphemisms for burning tires. Burning tires for fuel is NOT a, "productive end use."

IMPLEMENTATION

*  SOURCE REDUCTION: The CIWMB has done *nothing* to enhance or promote source reduction. The CIWMB is required by PRC 40051 to do so as the top of the hierarchy. We propose that all new cars sold in California be required to contain tires rated to last 100,000 - 140,000 miles. This will go a long way to reduce the waste stream of tires.

* RECYCLING (PRC 40180): Burning tires for fuel is not recycling. (1) It is a waste of a valuable resource, the synthetic rubber material can be put to a myriad of uses, we mention only one here:

* RAC: Rubberized Asphalt Concrete (RAC) can use most or even all of the 30 million used tires generated each year in California. RAC is being used successfully in California and other states (e.g. State Highway 880, one of the heaviest use highways in CA, on the east side of San Francisco Bay is being paved with RAC. It has been successfully used in AZ for around 20 on some roads). It takes 1/2 the material, lasts two, three, four or more times as long as conventional pavement, requires significantly less maintenance, is quieter -- anywhere from 5 to 60 % quieter -- saves the communities money over the long run and to top it off, the tires of the vehicles that drive on it last longer. Using the Green Book formula, the success rate has been astounding.

POLLUTION and HEALTH COSTS

*  Burning tires for fuel is a cheap form of fuel for industry and an expensive health cost to the citizens living in communities with cement kilns.

*  In the Hanson (formerly Kaiser) Cement test burn analysis (touted as one the best conducted test burns) comparing coal burning to coal burning plus 10% tire chips, the following emissions, among others, went up:    benzene by 12%, dioxins by 30% (one of the most powerful toxins/hormone disrupters known), hexavalent chromium by 837% (this is the Erin Brokovich pollutant), small particulates by 14% (a leading cause of asthma in children which is on the increase as it is), Mercury by 15%, and  even NOx (a reduction of which was touted as a "benefit" of tire burning) went up by 6%.

*   "The chemical soup of air emissions from cement kilns burning tires can not be judged to be safe until we know more about the mix of carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens, and endocrine disrupters, because who wants to have their babies and families be tested as guinea pigs." [Dr. Neil Carman]

*  We also refer you to the many reports and letters we and others have sent detailing the increased carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic consequences of adding tire chips to the fuel mixture in cement kilns. See especially the letter from Dr. Neil Carman, certainly one of the foremost authorities on tire burning and synthetic rubber.

*  Coal burning as fuel for cement kilns is dirty, adding tire chips to the coal is even dirtier. (Many, perhaps most, of the cement kilns in California used to burn natural gas as fuel.)

*  WVCAW, Citizens for a Better Environment , Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and other groups have reviewed the emission data from the test burns comparing burning coal to burning coal with tire chips. The results are that a toxic soup of additional hazardous emissions from these plants are being put into the air we breathe. Help us to stop this from continuing.

ENFORCEMENT

*   We recommend and concur with a rebate or bounty and amnesty days for turning in used tires and tire piles which could go a long way towards eliminating illegal disposal of tires. Rewarding turning in of tires will be cheaper in the long run than trying to track down and fine tire dumpers.

*   Tires are required by California law to be chipped into pieces. Only illegal tire piles store or bury whole tires which lead to issues of mosquitoes, etc.

*   The CIWMB now has a huge tire fund. We recommend use of some of these moneys to clean up legacy   tire piles. This is far cheaper to the state than a tire pile fire clean-up and litigation.

*  Under the "Objectives," of the Five Year Tire Management Plan, section 1. and 2. propose to bring all permitted and known illegal sites into compliance by 2006. This length of time considering the amount of money the CIWMB Tire Fund has, and the priorities it should have, is completely inappropriate, inexplicable, and unacceptable. We recommend complete compliance by the minimum date of January 31, 2004.

*   Under the 5 Year plan's section, "State Enforcement:, 1. Enhanced Enforcement," we ask that the exclusions be deleted.

*  Under section 4. We  ask for deletion of the inappropriate and potentially hazardous provision that, "Cement manufacturers that burn waste tires for fuel can be exempted from waste tire facility permit requirements..."

QUESTIONS WE REQUEST THE BOARD DIRECT STAFF TO ANSWER

*   How much total expenditures and/or subsidies in dollars in each year from 1997 - 2002 has the CIWMB through the Tire Fund (or other CA or CIWMB funding sources, please specify) sent to cement kilns and other plants or businesses to burn tires for fuel either directly (specify) or indirectly (specify, e.g. "public education," reimbursements for hauling per tire burned, specify staff time spent on this, etc).

*   Break down by individual businesses and companies the expenditures and/or subsidies in dollars in each year from 1997 - 2002. For example, how much direct (specify) and indirect (specify) expenditures did the Calaveras Cement Co., Redding, Shasta Cty, cement kiln receive from the CIWMB to burn tires for fuel?

*   What is the status of the 176 sites suspected of storing waste tires in the Five-Year Tire Management Plan, under the section, "State of the Program"? (i.e. 279 identified but not at that time taken care of minus  103 dealt with.)

OTHER PROPOSALS

*   Burning tires for fuel should be phased out over a three to four year period starting in January.

CONCLUSION

*  The same old approach to promote and further increase the burning of tires for fuel instead of moving forward to promoting the above mentioned solutions is not acceptable and reflects a calcification of thinking at best and the undue influence of the tire burning industries at worst. We are hopeful that this new Board will reverse this course by guiding and directing the staff to the above mentioned compliance and recommendations.

Since 1996, WVCAW, has attended numerous meetings and workshops at the CIWMB, commenting on CIWMB plans, implementation, enforcement, and expenditures,  and on the increased pollution caused by the addition of tires to the fuel mix. WVCAW has and continues to recommend source reduction and true recycling. Before finalizing the recommendations for the 2 year revision of the Five Year Waste Tire Program, we refer you to numerous letters sent and testimony given over the years, including this year, by WVCAW, the Sierra Club, Citizens for a Better Environment, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition,  and individual citizens regarding the California Waste Tire Program and asking for the CIWMB not to promote or directly or indirectly subsidize burning of tires, and calling for the doable solutions already built into California law and already available for source reduction and true recycling.

Your thoughtful consideration on this matter is appreciated by the residents of this great state.

Working together to keep California clean,
   
        Joyce M Eden, for West Valley Citizen's Air Watch

cc: Senator Byron Sher
     Assemblyperson Anna Eshoo
     Attorney General Bill Lockyer


(1) Tire burning for fuel is a waste of energy as it takes around 7 times more energy to manufacture a new tire as the amount of energy obtained from burning a tire for fuel, plus it is a loss of a valuable material -- synthetic rubber.