Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Massive Illegal Scrap Tire Dumping in Allegany County

Westernport, MD News (10/25/2024) – A Maryland man, Michel Osei, from Hanover, has entered a guilty plea to 17 environmental crimes for his role in the unlawful disposal and abandonment of over 250,000 scrap tires in Allegany County. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced the plea following an investigation led by the Attorney General’s Environmental and Natural Resources Crimes Unit (ENRCU), the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), and the Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal. The violations included unlawful disposal for profit, operating an unlicensed scrap tire facility, and improper waste handling, which poses severe health and environmental risks.

Osei’s initial contact with Allegany County officials in June 2021 involved a proposal for a tire recycling facility in Westernport. He claimed the operation would create jobs, with potential to employ up to 50 people, and that he had secured contracts worth millions to export processed tires. Based on these promises, Allegany County provided Osei with a favorable land lease for an industrial parcel near the Potomac River. Within weeks of opening in July 2021, Osei’s operation collected a significant volume of tires from West Virginia, quickly accumulating over 100,000 tires. However, investigations revealed that almost none of these tires were removed from the site as initially planned.

In October 2021, MDE inspectors discovered significant issues at the site, including roughly 10,000 to 15,000 tires stored in large, uncovered piles on the property without any permits. The tires, exposed to weather and tightly packed, posed a major fire hazard, and due to the scope of the danger, MDE alerted the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Scrap tire storage without necessary containment measures is highly regulated in Maryland due to the environmental hazards involved. The state’s laws require all scrap tire handlers to be licensed, with strict rules regarding transport, storage, and disposal, which Osei’s operation bypassed entirely.

Following repeated warnings from MDE and the Fire Marshal, Osei was ordered to cease operations between late 2021 and spring 2022. By September 2022, however, the site was abandoned with a reported 250,000 scrap tires on-site, packed into tractor-trailers and strewn across the property. The site has since required an extensive cleanup effort led by Allegany County, as the sheer volume of scrap tires presents ongoing fire, air, and water quality risks.

Under Maryland law, scrap tires are designated as waste once they are deemed unsuitable for original use due to wear, defect, or damage. To mitigate their environmental impact, tire management is regulated by the MDE under Title 9 of Maryland’s Environment Article, with a tiered licensing system distinguishing different types of storage and processing facilities. Facilities that fail to meet these standards face substantial legal penalties, especially when the mismanagement involves large-scale operations like Osei’s.

The case highlights Maryland’s regulatory measures on tire disposal and the commitment of state agencies to enforcing environmental compliance. Convictions like this, according to Attorney General Brown, serve as a warning to businesses that improper waste disposal will not be tolerated. Improperly managed scrap tire collections, which can catch fire and spread toxic pollutants, endanger local communities, fire service responders, and the environment.

Acting State Fire Marshal Jason M. Mowbray noted that this case underscores the dangers that non-compliant tire facilities can create, drawing parallels to past incidents nationwide where such facilities have led to massive fires and environmental hazards. The Fire Marshal’s Office, working closely with county and volunteer fire services, has emphasized the critical importance of regulatory oversight for high-risk materials like scrap tires.

Osei’s sentencing is scheduled for December 17, 2024, in Allegany County Circuit Court. In the meantime, efforts to remediate the environmental damage at the Westernport facility are underway.

Story by multiple RFHC contributors