As tires pile up, so do complaints

Roughly six years after it overcame neighborhood protest to gain approval to shred old tires, a company operating on land north of Cloquet is under state investigation for its possible failure to meet permitted standards.

Tire Aggregate, Inc., located along Minnesota Highway 33 just across the Carlton County line, was permitted by both St. Louis County and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 2017 to shred used tires to make a construction product called tire-derived aggregate.

New complaints from neighbors say the company is burying shredded tires in groundwater and allowing overflowing used...