ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
A private dump in Roanoke County containing more than 3 million tires apparently is under scrutiny again by the Board of Supervisors.
Supervisors considered potential litigation involving W.J. Keeling's tire dump on Starlight Lane in South County during a closed session Tuesday evening. They made no announcement after their meeting.
County Attorney Paul Mahoney said he explained the legal options available for cleaning up the 100-acre site. He said if supervisors decide to take formal action, it would be done at a later meeting. Mahoney said any such action would be "very expensive."
Keeling's tire dump is considered by state officials to be the second largest in Virginia. The largest, in King George County, contains more than 5 million tires.
The Roanoke County dump grew out of a tire recapping business Keeling started in 1964.
County and state officials have considered the site a fire hazard for decades. There were five small fires at the dump in the mid-1970s. Norman Aldridge, assistant division director for the Department of Environmental Quality, said he knows of no other fires at the Keeling dump. He said his department worked with Roanoke County emergency officials to create an action plan for handling any future fires.
Keeling was convicted in the 1980s of illegally operating a landfill, unlawfully disposing of rubbish and maintaining a public nuisance. However, neither court action nor a state tire disposal program has succeeded in having the dump cleaned up.
Reached at his home Tuesday, Keeling said he had not spoken with county or state officials in two months. He said "one of the biggest rubber companies in the world" is interested in buying his tires, but would not identify the company. He said the tires, if properly processed, could be sold for $200 a ton.
"These tires have almost turned into a gold mine now," he said.
However, Keeling said he doesn't have the capital to purchase the needed processing equipment, and he said vandals have damaged the shredding machines he owns.
"They're just doing it for meanness," he said. "It seems like they don't want us to operate."
Keeling said he stopped shredding tires 10 years ago and has only recently tried to start his business again.
"We're not all the way operating," he said.
Keeling said he has fewer tires than in 1993, when state officials estimated the number at 3 million. However, Becky Wright of the Department of Environmental Quality disagreed.
"I believe it's probably increased a little bit," she said.
Wright said her department has been working with county officials on their options for cleaning up the site, but declined to say what those options were.
King George County officials, with some assistance from the state, have seized the tire dump in their jurisdiction and hired contractors to clear roads through the piles of tires so that cleanup operations can begin.
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