LegAlert #97-6

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Tire Burning is NOT Recycling!
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AB 375 (Firestone) - In an effort to reduce the tire stockpiles that
plague many communities and to fund the creation of new markets
for used tires, Assemblymember Firestone has introduced AB 375,
which enacts the California Tire Recovery Reimbursement
Program and makes other changes to the state's current tire
recovery program. The bill increases the tire fee from the current
$.25 per passenger tire to $.50, and creates a fund for reimbursing
certified tire recovery programs.

AB 375 includes a number of provisions which incentivize recycling
waste tires for residential, commercial, and industrial use; in
particular, the bill boosts the use of recycled rubber in asphalt
paving materials. However, the same reimbursement given to tire
recyclers would also be given to facilities burning tires for energy.

The Sierra Club has serious concerns about the health impacts
caused by emissions from tire burning facilities, especially cement
kilns which burn tires. Emissions of many hazardous chemicals,
including heavy metals, have been proven to increase with the use
of tire-derived fuel. A draft federal EPA report on dioxin, one of
many hazardous pollutants shown to increase when tire-derived fuel
is used in cement kilns, concludes that dioxins and related
compounds such as PCBs are much more dangerous than
previously understood.

Many cement kilns that are burning tires, or are seeking to burn
tires, are not designed to do so. Because they are designed to make
a product, not to burn hazardous waste, they produce more air
pollution when tires are added as fuel. Facilities which burn steel-
belted tires are burning three pounds of steel per tire.

Burning of tires for fuel should not be considered true recycling,
and should not be rewarded with incentive funding. Instead, that
funding should go to facilities using tires to make products such as
asphalt, retreading, sound barrier panels, and roofing products.

Status: AB 375 is on the Assembly Floor, and could come up for
vote as soon as Monday.

Action Needed: Call your Assemblymembers and urge them to
oppose AB 375 unless amendments are taken to narrow the bill to
only grant financial incentives to facilities which recycle tires into
products, not facilities which use tires for a fuel source.

SB 1188 (Hayden) - SB 1188, as introduced, would have
appropriated funds for the establishment of a public bikeway along
the Los Angeles River. As most recently amended, the bill simply
states legislative intent to encourage increased recreation
opportunities, community development, open space, and wildlife
habitat in the Los Angeles River corridor, consistent with essential
flood control purposes, and to foster greater partnership and
coordination among public agencies and private entities to restore
the river for those purposes.

Though the bill has been weakened, it is linked to the important
coastal protection package of bills that is moving through
legislature this year, and therefore deserves our support. There is a
good chance, too, that the bill will be amended and strengthened
once it reaches the Assembly.

Status: SB 1188 is currently on the Senate Floor, and will probably
come up for vote early next week.

Action Needed: Contact your Senators and ask them to support
this protection of one of California's most important waterways.

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Address your letters to: Assembly Member/Senator ______
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

To find out who your state legislators are, call:
(916) 445-3614 (Assembly)
(916) 445-4251 (Senate)

To find out the email addresses for your state legislators, check the
following Web pages:
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset7.htm
http://www.sen.ca.gov/htbin/seninfo/sen.senator

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