MILTON, Vt. -
One man, one scrap yard... and about one million tires. We have been following the ABC Metals tire problem in Milton, Vermont for years now, and today, the state started removing the tires and your money paid for it.
"It was nothing to have a car come in with 30 tires, the trunk, every space in the car was filled with tires," Salvage Yard Owner, Gilbert Rhoades said.
That's how this 42 year old tire pile has grown into an out of control fire hazard. For years, the state has been trying to get the former ABC Metals scrap yard owner Gilbert Rhoades to pay to remove them, but he says when the state shut down his business for being incompliant, his money ran out.
"They have run me down to where I'm just one step above being a dead beat," Rhoades said.
The Agency of Natural Resources stepped up and offered 75,000 tax payer dollars to start the clean up process and today, they used $5,000 of its $75,000. And although it's a start, it barely even made a dent. Two truck loads took out about 3,500 tires.
The Agency estimates the tire pile is 5,000 tons. Let me put this into perspective, the pile is roughly 200 feet long, 80 feet wide and could be 30 feet deep. "Many many of these tires are compressed to the thickness of their casing," Rhoades added.
That's why Rhoades believes his collection could be more than double the estimation. The pile also poses other risks. In addition to tires, crews have to haul away soil contaminated with lead. "The area where they're digging up is the area where we have always always dismantled cars, so it stands with good reason that they would find some lead contamination," Rhoades said.
The tires will be recycled and reused to make roads and turf fields.
The $75,000 the state has already devoted to the clean up will only eliminate 17% of the massive pile. It remains to be seen who will pay for the rest. Gilbert Rhoades will be in court tomorrow morning because the state strongly believes he should pay for some of the tire clean up... he does not.
