The Environmental Protection Agency is going after yet another business operating on the Cabazon Reservation in southern California.

The EPA ordered Consolidated Tire Recyclers to stop accepting scrapped tires and to clean up tire piles. The move came after a May 17 fire at the facility.

“A large tire fire could pose a serious public health threat for the citizens of Mecca,” Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest, said in a press release “To protect the local community, including children attending nearby schools, EPA and the [Cabazon] Tribe have taken steps to eliminate the risk of fire. As a start, EPA has ordered the facility to stop accepting any additional tires.”

Last month, the EPA ordered Western Environmental Inc to stop accepting soils or biosolids without prior approval. Another firm, Waste Reduction Technologies, was hit with a similar order.

All three businesses lease land from the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. The tribe said it is regulating their activities.

Get the Story:
Feds cite 'imminent fire risk' at Mecca tire recycling plant (The Palm Springs Desert Sun 6/2)
EPA Orders Mecca Tire Recycling Facility To Clean Up (KESQ-TV 6/1)

Related Stories:
Opinion: Jurisdictional issues and Cabazon recycling plant (5/12)
EPA takes action on recycling plant on Cabazon Reservation (5/10)
Residents demand closure of plant at Cabazon Reservation (4/29)
Odor at reycling plant on Cabazon Reservation stirs neighbors (3/28)