Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today obtained a temporary injunction from a Travis County District Court against Eclipse Renewables, LLC, (Eclipse), a company that owns a 36-acre scrap tire storage site in San Antonio. Eclipse purchased the site after Safe Tire Disposal Corporation abandoned operations at the location. Eclipse never obtained a permit or registration from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to use the facility as a tire storage or processing site. The failure to obtain that authorization is a continuing violation of the Texas Health and Safety Code and TCEQ rules.
In 2014 TCEQ conducted an investigation following complaints from citizens who live nearby regarding mosquitos coming from the tire site. The investigation confirmed the complaints and showed that over one million tires are stored at the site. Subsequent investigations by TCEQ showed that the conditions have persisted.
The temporary injunction granted by the district court orders Eclipse to remove the scrap tires on a schedule set out in the injunction so that all but 500 tires are properly disposed of within 180 days.