Illegal Dumping

Smarting from an unprecedented tidal wave of low-priced imports, the U.S. steel industry is mounting a massive counteroffensive against many of the world's biggest exporters.In what would be the broadest assault on foreign steel in at least six years, an industry coalition is building a legal case to effectively cut off steel imports from Japan, South Korea and Russia as well as smaller exporters in Asia and the former Soviet bloc in Europe.Chief executives of most of the nation's major steel producers gave tentative approval last week to preparing a formal trade complaint, accusing mills in these countries of illegally dumping steel in the United States.

While a year-old crackdown on illegal tire dumping has resulted in 18 arrests and four convictions in recent months, it is costing the city $500,000 a year to clean up and dispose of the 1,200 or so tons of tires that are illegally dumped in vacant lots across Baltimore, Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said yesterday.Standing before a mound of tires illegally dumped next to an abandoned warehouse on Druid Park Drive in West Baltimore, Curran said the state's Environmental Crimes Unit and the city's Department of Public Works have recently used surveillance cameras to catch illegal dumpers in the act.In addition to being marred by used tires, other wooded or isolated parts of the city have been turned into minilandfills of trash bags, discarded furniture and other dregs, Curran said.

The state Department of the Environment has announced that is has achieved its fiscal 1997 goal of removing 1 million illegally dumped scrap tires with 44 removal projects in 18 counties and Baltimore City.Since 1990, the state has removed more than 4 million scrap tires, which pose environmental and health problems. Removed tires are recycled for use as fuel in waste-to-energy facilities or shredded and used for civil engineering projects such as caps for landfills. Anne Arundel County firms participating in the scrap tire project include Dixon Motors of Galesville; Fraley Construction in Stahl Point; Contin in Edgewater; Milzman, CSX Realty, BFI, and Blumenthal Power Co., all in Glen Burnie.

HOWARD COUNTY SUFFERED an environmental crime more than two decades ago when someone dumped 900 drums of hazardous waste into the old Carrs Mill Landfill near Woodbine. Unfortunately, those most directly responsible for the dumping can never be brought to justice. A landfill supervisor suspected of permitting the illegal dumping is dead, and three companies involved in the deed have changed ownership.New ownership, however, does not relieve successor companies of the liability the former companies have.

A Beltsville paving company was found guilty yesterday in Howard District Court of endangering the environment by illegally dumping into a storm drain in east Columbia.Cylos Inc. was convicted of water pollution by District Judge James N. Vaughan. The company was ordered to reimburse the state $450 -- funds required for cleanup after an employee dumped a bucket of fuel oil mixed with an asphalt byproduct into the drain in July.The company also must pay a $430 fine to the state Clean Water Fund, said Assistant Attorney General Bernard A. Penner.

At a time when a mayor's task force is hunting illegal dumpers, the city's Department of Public Works has illegally dumped hundreds of tires in North Baltimore for more than a year.The tire dump is on a secluded plot of city-owned land, south of Cold Spring Lane and west of the Jones Falls Expressway.During two visits in the past month, a Sun reporter and photographer found hundreds of old tires mixed with trash and piled in small mounds strewn over an area several hundred feet wide.Yesterday, a day after a reporter called the Public Works Department to ask about the dump, Director George G. Balog ordered an immediate cleanup, said Kurt Kocher, an agency spokesman.

BALTIMORE ISN'T as clean as it should be. Especially beyond the tourist-attractive realm of the Inner Harbor and downtown that gets extra attention from privately paid sanitation crews. City workers have improved a number of areas with "Clean Sweep" days that target some of the filthier neighborhoods. But no matter how much sanitation workers do, it's clear that until people's attitudes change it won't be enough.Attitudes deserve a lot of the blame for the extremely high amount of illegal dumping that occurs in Baltimore.

Using the night as cover, illegal dumpers have been getting away for years with marring some of Baltimore's most secluded -- though public -- areas with rusted refrigerators, used tires and old sofas.But now, the dumpers are getting dumped on -- courtesy of a zealous mayoral task force whose mission is to clean up Baltimore.Along with police, members of the Mayor's Illegal Dumping Task Force will rummage through the garbage looking for clues to trace the owners. The news delights city residents who are outraged by the amount of dumping in their neighborhoods.

A Baltimore District judge has levied a $50,000 penalty against a city excavating company and its owner for illegal dumping, the state attorney general and environmental officials reported yesterday.Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey on Thursday ordered M. Edward Suddreth of Glen Burnie and Patapsco Excavating Inc. to perform $50,000 worth of community service projects for dumping construction debris at a landfill in the 600 block of Patapsco Ave.Cooksey suspended a 12-month sentence and a $50,000 fine and instead ordered Suddreth and the company to complete beautification projects during three years of probation.

In the dumping grounds of Sandtown-Winchester, Richard Burton sees hope in the mounds of tires, old furniture and scrap metal that litter the vacant lots and alleys.After many unsuccessful attempts to stop illegal dumping, Mr. Burton says a bill would give community groups such as his the right to sue to force a property owner to clean a vacant lot."This bill would give us leverage," he said yesterday of the community rights bill, which is scheduled for a hearing in the House of Delegates today.