evil Filbin acquires Westley tire plant	
( county D.A. wont make a stand .... )
February 28, 2002 Posted: 05:55:05 AM PST

By JOHN HOLLAND
BEE STAFF WRITER 
Ed Filbin, who started the infamous tire pile near Westley, now owns the tire-burning power plant next door. 
Filbin acquired the idle plant a month ago at no cost because Modesto Energy Limited Partnership stopped making lease payments to him. He said Tuesday that he hopes to find a company to restart the plant. 
"They gave the keys to me," Filbin said. "They could not economically keep the thing going." 
Modesto Energy entered into a contract with Filbin to build the plant on his land in 1987. 
Filbin is among the defendants in lawsuits over the huge fire at the pile in 1999. He started the pile about 40 years ago on his ranchland in a canyon west of Interstate 5. 
He declined to talk about the litigation but said he is eager to get things going at the tire-burning plant, which was built to consume the stockpiled tires and others hauled there. 
Ed Tomeo, president of Modesto Energy, said Wednesday that the company stopped making payments after failing to find a buyer for the plant or to get a state subsidy for restarting it. 
"Basically, the terms of the lease did allow for the turnover of the facility to (Filbin) in the event lease payments were not made," Tomeo said. 
The plant cost about $41 million to build. Stanislaus County has dropped its assessed value to just $742,500 because the plant is not making money. 
Modesto Energy still exists as a corporation even though its main asset is now in Filbin's hands, said Tomeo, who still works for its parent company, United American Energy Corp. of San Ramon. 
Modesto Energy has met its obligation to help pay for the fire cleanup under a settlement with the state attorney general and the Stanislaus County district attorney, he said. 
The plant operated for about a dozen years, selling enough power to Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to supply about 15,000 homes. It shut down in September 1999 after lightning ignited the neighboring tire pile, which then held about 7 million tires. 
The plant resumed operation for a while, helping with the initial cleanup at the site, but it shut down again in January 2000 because of legal problems with its main tire supplier. 
Filbin said he is negotiating with five companies interested in operating the plant for him. 
"It will take some money to get it back in operation, but that's not a problem," he said. "It would be private funding. We don't have to go to the state (for a subsidy) to get it going." 
State subsidy denied 
Modesto Energy last year asked for $3 million a year from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to help operate the plant. Tomeo argued that the subsidy -- from a $1 surcharge on the purchase of each tire -- would help solve both the tire-dumping problem and the energy shortage then gripping the state. 
The state board declined to act, and the easing of the energy crisis meant that electricity from tires was not so much in demand. 
The plant can burn as many as 6 million tires a year, about a fifth of the total discarded annually in the state. Tomeo said he is glad that Filbin will take a crack at restarting it. 
"We really liked the facility," Tomeo said. "The power plant does the right thing. It consumes six out of every 10 tires (discarded) from Fresno to Yreka." 
Filbin would have to get a new permit from the state waste board to stockpile tires for burning in the plant, board spokesman Lanny Clavecilla said. 
"There are going to be some space requirements between the piles, so in the event there's a fire, it will remain small, and they would provide access lanes," Clavecilla said. 
The plant also would have to meet standards set by the county and by the regional boards dealing with air and water pollution, he said. 
Modesto Energy had kept a relatively small pile of tires right at the plant. Filbin owned the larger pile until 1995, when he sold it to Mark Kirkland. He retained ownership of the land underneath the tires. 
A judge ruled in December that Filbin is partly responsible for cleanup costs after the fire. That ruling came in a lawsuit by the attorney general and district attorney. 
Filbin also is named in a lawsuit by about 11,000 West Side residents who claim smoke from the fire made them sick.