13:1E-225 Local Tire Management Program.

4. a. There is established in the Department of Environmental Protection a Local Tire Management Program for the proper cleanup of abandoned tire piles and to provide grants to counties and municipalities for proper cleanup of abandoned tire piles within their respective jurisdictions.

b. The department may enter any property, facility, premises or site for the purpose of conducting inspections, sampling of soil or water, copying or photocopying documents or records, and otherwise determining if tires may be illegally accumulated.

c. The department shall recover to the use of the Tire Management and Cleanup Fund from the site owner or the person responsible for the accumulation of tires at the site, jointly and severally, all sums expended from the fund to manage tires at an illegal waste tire site, except that the department may decline to pursue such recovery if it finds the amount involved too small or the likelihood of recovery too uncertain.

d. The department may impose a lien on the real property on which the waste tire site is located equal to the estimated cost to bring the tire site into compliance, including attorney's fees and court costs. An owner whose property has such a lien imposed may release that property from a lien claimed under this subsection by filing with the clerk of the Superior Court a cash or surety bond, payable to the department in the amount of the estimated cost of bringing the tire site into compliance with department rules, including attorney's fees and court costs, or the value of the property after the abatement action is complete, whichever is less.

e. This section does not limit the use of other remedies available to the department.

f. The Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection may adopt any rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this section.

L.2004,c.46,s.4.