4,600 tons of tires removed from northern Illinois site

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - Officials say the removal of more than 4,600 tons of used tires this summer from a former used tire processing business in northern Illinois was the largest and most expensive such project ever in the state.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency says the nearly two-month cleanup was completed Aug. 3 at the site of STAR Used Tire Disposal in Rockford. The agency says the work cost more than $1.8 million.

The Rockford Star Register reports the site's operator and property owners have face multiple investigations from environmental regulators over the past decade.

State EPA officials say the business has been closed since about 2011. The agency says it is asking the state attorney general's office to sue the operator and property owners to pay the cleanup costs.

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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com