November 14, 1999 Report

   The committee meeting with Ed Tomeo, President of Modesto Energy Limited Partnership, lasted almost 2 hours and the committee came away more informed about the factors involved in the cleanup and efforts to reopen the tire burning plant. The decision to reopen the plant was scheduled to be made this Tuesday at the California Integrated Waste Management Board meeting in Sacramento. Unfortunately the item was pulled for as yet unexplained reasons meaning further delay in the reopening of the plant.

   In the meantime, our committee has completed a document of conditions and requirements for the cleanup of the site and the reopening of the tire burning plant.  These conditions will be presented Monday night at our regular meeting.

   We do not oppose the reopening of the tire plant, however we need assurances that tires will not accumulate at the site again and pose another tire fire disaster.  Our conditions relate to those concerns.

   Also Monday evening, the fourth health clinic will precede the committee meeting starting at 6 PM in the High School Cafeteria.  It will continue until about 8 PM.  The free health clinic is being made available through the Stanislaus County Health department and features a questionnaire on symptoms that might relate to the effects of the tire fire. 

   The committee hopes this health monitoring effort will result in the gathering of data on the effects of the bad air quality and dangerous pollutants that were emitted by the smoke from the burning tires.  Without this monitoring and documentation effort there will never be any record of the affects of the known carcinogens emitted during the fire that may not show up for years later. 

   The Community Awareness-Action Committee is continuing its efforts to hold the officials accountable who let the Filbin tire pile become a hazard and then a disaster.  There can be little dispute that politicians, various officials as well as local and state agencies failed in there responsibilities to keep this disaster from happening despite all the laws on the books and numerous legal efforts and court actions over more than 20 years. 

   The recent hearings before Assemblymen Dennis Cardoza showed by testimony where the enforcement of existing laws failed. 

   The committee is committed to learning as much as it can now that the fire is out and to apply pressure on officials and agencies to do a better job as they enter a cleanup and accountability phase.  It is clear to the committee that citizens can’t sit back and wait for the various elected officials, administrative staff and agencies to do the right job without oversight.  This includes the process of making the decision to allow the tire burning plant to start burning tires again. 

   If you agree with this effort and have not previously participated in the efforts to keep the process on the right course, you are urged to attend the committee’s Monday night meetings and offer your support and help. 

   It’s clear and acknowledged that the fire would still be burning at full blast if this committee had not applied pressure on area officials.  The committee must continue to be vigilant or the tire pile could be restocked and even catch fire again without citizen’s monitoring efforts.