Audit: Waste tire program not tightly monitored

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality didn’t have proper controls over a state program meant to keep tires from being dumped illegally, allowing overpayments, according to an audit released today. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office says DEQ allows waste tire processors to weigh their own tire shipments, rather than confirming the weight through a third party. The payments are based on weight. Louisiana pays for the disposal and processing of old tires. The waste tire program was started in 1989 to shrink the number of scrap tires dumped at roadsides and rotting in trash piles. The program paid out $10.5 million in the 2010-11 budget year and $41 million over four years from 2008 to 2011, according to the audit. Five waste tire processors participate in the program. “Without obtaining an independent confirmation of processed material weights from a third party or the end user, DEQ retains an unmitigated risk of fraud that could result in overpayments to processors,” the report says. DEQ Undersecretary Vince Sagnibene says the risk of a processor overstating the weight of the tires is minimized because of controls over the scales, adding that the department plans to randomly audit the waste tire processors to spot-check billing. The legislative auditor also detailed other, continuing accounting problems at DEQ, only some of which the department agrees with. Read the full story here.