Maryland tire dealers oppose scrap tire bills

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Feb. 16)—Maryland tire dealers are up in arms over a quartet of scrap tire bills introduced in the Maryland legislature, including one to dedicate the money from scrap tire fees for sewage treatment and another mandating $25,000 fines and up to five years´ imprisonment for even minor infractions of state scrap tire disposal regulations. As it now stands, only about 3 or 4 cents of the $1 scrap tire fee collected by Maryland dealers is actually used to clean up tire piles, according to Mike Kress, president of the Maryland Tire Dealers Association.