Tire recycler was once welcomed by county

When St. Louis County first permitted a waste tire recycling facility north of Cloquet in 2014, it concluded that the project along Highway 33 was "consistent with a desirable pattern of development" in the area.

The county, in its area land use plan, said it wanted "to encourage rural industry," and a findings of fact document concluded there was "limited residential development in the area."

That must have been news to the residents who spoke in opposition at the time to the proposed facility, and the 200 petitioners who later opposed the project in a letter to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Tire Aggregate is now under investigation from the MPCA and St. Louis County, facing complaints from neighbors that shredded and whole tires are overflowing from bins, being buried on site, and that the site is, generally, not in compliance with MPCA and county standards.

"St. Louis County is currently working with the MPCA to determine if the state requirements are being met and subsequently the conditions of the [county's] conditional use permit," interim land use planning manager Donald Rigney told the Pine Knot, following the paper's first report about the allegations published Sept. 1.

In that report, neighbors described the Tire Aggregate site as not disposing of waste tires properly and piles of tires exceeding the 10-foot height limit. One neighbor showed a newspaper photographer a watery pit partially filled with shredded tires.

St. Louis County declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation. But the county's findings of fact in 2014 seemed to outline the possibility for problems if there were non-compliance.

Then owner David Chmielewski, who died in 2020, said adjoining landowners didn't understand the material in use, and convinced the county planning commission that the tires wouldn't leach toxins into the ground. He said the facility would process only "a small amount of tires."

Located in an existing gravel pit belonging to Andrew Omar of Duluth, the county also agreed with Chmielewski that roofs for storage bins weren't necessary due to the maximum height standard.

Three residents spoke to the St. Louis County planning commission prior to its unanimous decision in 2014 to approve the business. The residents then were concerned about chemicals in the tires, groundwater supply shared between the site and neighboring wells, and the risk of tire fires.

Tire Aggregate was designed to produce a construction product called tire-derived aggregate. The facility would "stockpile tires in the storage bins long enough to get the shredder to shred them," Chmielewski told the commission. Tire Aggregate would first contract for the use of a tire shredder and later purchase one for itself.

Current management at Tire Aggregate and Omar have not responded to attempts by the newspaper for comment.

Overhead Google Earth images captured in 2023 appear to show bins overflowing with tires, and other random piles of tires located throughout the approximately 6-acre site. Two piles are visible from the cemetery on the south side of the site.

"They're solid waste and not being disposed of properly," said neighbor Bonnie Vanderpool in the story earlier this month.

Neither the MPCA nor St. Louis County has provided a timeframe for the conclusion of their investigation into the complaints.