Mill Creek Tire Dump Application Withdrawn
We recently received word (and you may have seen it in the news yesterday) that Adkins’ proposed tire dump in Paradise Valley will not go forward because the applicants did not agree to pay the costs of an environmental review of the project.
During a two-month public comment period, the Park County Environmental Council, Protecting Paradise and the community raised concerns about the tire dump’s potential to pollute air and water in Paradise Valley. Read our full comments here.
After reviewing hundreds of comments and listening to the communities concerns, DEQ found that a thorough Environmental Impact Statement was necessary, requiring the Mike and Magdalena Adkins to submit a $50,000 deposit as part of a memorandum of agreement in order to move forward with the project. The Adkins had until yesterday to make a final decision on paying for the review for the 11.7-acre facility that could hold more than 25 million tires.
The greatest environmental risks associated with the project included the risk of a tire fire and the potential for the tires to leach and pollute area groundwater. We also pointed out that Adkins misled the public on the tire dump, touting it as a recycling facility without providing any evidence he ever planned to recycle tires at his property.
Bret De Young, who lives near the tire dump, said he was glad DEQ required such a significant environmental review of the project. "I think the EIS was an appropriate document. It provided the opportunity to explore the risks and health hazards and environmental hazards,” De Young said. “The plan seemed to have a lot of holes, so it asked a lot of questions that needed to be answered.”
In a new wrinkle to this often puzzling issue, Mike Adkins told the Enterprise on Tuesday that he is a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians and that he plans to donate the land back to the tribe and work with them to run a tire dump. The tribe is not federally recognized yet, but if it were to become so, a tire dump would still have to be reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Adding to the confusion of his real intentions, Adkins also told the Enterprise he could hold 60 million tires on his property, a vastly higher number than the 25 million he claimed in his tire dump proposal with DEQ.
PCEC will continue to follow Adkins’ efforts, regardless of how confounding they appear.
Again and again, the community has needed to mobilize against undesirable projects, like an asphalt plant and gold mines on the doorstep to Yellowstone. PCEC supported those efforts to curtail industrial development, and will continue to do so.
"I'm really glad this dump is not going to proceed and doesn't waste a bunch of everybody's time in fighting it again," said Wendy Riley, a PCEC board member and Paradise Valley resident. “Now, as a community, we should think more strongly about what we want long term. Otherwise, we are going to see continued proposals that don’t fit here. We need to come up with some solutions to not fighting these things one at a time.”
We are committed in our work to safeguarding the lands, water and wildlife that define the quality of life we all value in this community.