By Tom Weber, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The woman who runs Missouri's tire clean-up program says people should expect more tire piles in coming months.
Beth Marsala is with the Department of Natural Resources.
She took over tire clean-ups in January when Missourians stopped paying a 50 cent disposal fee on new tires.
She's now overseeing how the state will spend the last two million dollars left over for tire clean-ups.
Marsala says she hopes lawmakers bring back the tire fee.
"I don't think any of the legislators purposely were out to see this program go away," said Marsala. "I think it just kind of happened. There were so many other priorities with health and education and what have you, that it just kind of floundered. I would be very, very surprised if it didn't come up again next year."
Contracts with private clean-up companies also ended in January.
"They've got four crews working, but because they do it all manually with prison labor - where they just pick up the tires and load them onto a truck - it takes them longer," Marsala said.
She says more tires will appear along roads and in illegal dumps which could be a health risk because the mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus find the tires ideal for laying eggs.