Background: In November of 2002, a group of residents in Preston, Minnesota formed a community group to fight a proposed tire burning facility named Heartland Energy & Recycling. The community group, Southeastern Minnesotans for Environmental Protection (SEMEP) www.semep.org, fear that the plant, which would incinerate some 10 million scrap tires annually, poses a threat to both human health and the environment.

If built, Heartland would become the largest tire burning facility in the United States. Under its permits, Heartland's 210-foot high smokestack could emit over 800 tons of

potentially harmful pollutants per year--all within a half-mile of a grade school and a nursing home. Heartland’s annual air emissions expected to be emitted include carbon monoxide, mercury, lead and arsenic.

Despite the potential significant environmental impact the tire burning facility poses, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) refused to require an Environmental Impact Statement that would provide a comprehensive analysis of the air pollutants emitted by Heartland.

SEMEP also requested a contested case hearing on the decision of the MPCA to issue an air emissions permit. On July 22, 2003, the MPCA approved the air permit for Heartland and denied the requests for a contested case hearing.

Midwest Environmental Advocates is representing SEMEP, along with co-counsel Peters and Peters, environmental attorneys based in Alexandria, Minnesota. Midwest Environmental Advocates is also funding SEMEP’s lawsuits through our Impact Litigation Fund.

On September 4, 2003, SEMEP began legal action against the MPCA’s approval of the air permit, claiming that the MPCA failed to correctly classify the tire burner as a major source under the New Source Review program. A major source uses “fossil-fuel boilers (or combination thereof) totaling more than 250 million BTUs per hour heat input, and will have more than 100 tons per year of emissions of a criteria air pollutant.” SEMEP believes that because tires are composed primarily of fossil fuels, the tire burner should be regulated like other facilities that burn fossil fuels.

On September 29, 2004, SEMEP filed a motion for summary judgment against the MPCA for its failure to issue an Environmental Impact Statement.

In April of 2004, Olmsted County District Judge Joseph Wieners clarified his earlier ruling on a permit granted by the MPCA and ruled that construction on the tire burner should stop temporarily while the MPCA reconsiders the environmental impacts.

On January 25, 2005, after hearing hours of testimony, the MPCA Board agreed with SEMEP that a full Environmental Impact Statement must be conducted before this proposed tire burner can be approved.

Read the Minneapolis and St. Paul Star Tribune article on the MPCA decision here.

Read the Associated Press article on the MPCA decision here.

Status: Success! On March 6, 2005 Heartland Energy withdrew it proposal to build a tire burner in Preston, Minnesota.

To read a a LaCrosse Tribune article on the victory, click here.

To read a LaCrosse Tribune article on the opponents reaction to their victory, click here.

To read the March 16, 2005 MPCA letter confirming the withdrawal of the tire burner proposal, click here.