State seeks to shut down Tireville facility, at least temporarily

HUDSON — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has filed an action with Weld County District Court seeking to stop the tire disposal and recycling center near Hudson from operating until it complies with consent orders.

The lawsuit seeking the injunction was filed Wednesday. The court on Friday ordered an expedited hearing to consider the injunction motion. The hearing could result in the facility at 12311 Weld County Road 41 near Hudson being shut down and unable to accept discarded tires, at least temporarily.

The facility is owned by CH2E Colorado LLC. Operators along with CH2E are Hudson Tireville LLC, Hudson Tireville Operations Co. LLC. Robert Zecher of New York and James Kostura of Pennsylvania also are named in the lawsuit; the two are said to make decisions regarding facility compliance, according to the court documents.

The waste-tire operation contains multiple tire piles or cells and in 2011 was estimated to contain 31.5 million tires, according to online information provided by a tire recycler. Each year in Colorado, consumers scrap an additional 4.5 million tires, not all of which go to Hudson.

The Hudson site caught fire in July 2020. Subsequent inspections found fire roads blocked, tires stacked higher than permitted limits, and excessive growth of vegetation that could be flammable, according to the lawsuit.

The facility agreed to a consent order in May 2021 that required coming into compliance with state regulations governing disposal sites and filing certain reports to document progress. An inspection in August found the site out of compliance, the lawsuit alleged. In September, operators admitted “making almost no progress” toward compliance. An October inspection confirmed that admission and resulted in the court action this month. 

The DCPHE asked the court in its action for an injunction to force compliance with the consent order, for an injunction to prohibit acceptance of tires pending compliance and for penalties under the state Solid Waste Act.

Representatives from CH2E did not respond to a request for comment.

The court action Friday ordered the parties to contact the court to set the date for the expedited hearing.

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