So far, the Wexford and Osceola county boards and the Selma and Haring township boards have voted to oppose tire burning without scrubbers. The Cadillac City Council was asked to pass a similar statement, but voted it down. The company has applied for permission to burn up to 18,000 tons of tires per year as fuel for the plant. Scrubbers are a means of reducing the amount of sulfur dioxide released into the air from plants that burn coal, tires or other substances that produce the compound when burned. Sulfur dioxide becomes acid rain when it mixes with moisture in the atmosphere.
Acid rain can affect the ecology of lakes and the ground.
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