Alabama Department of Environmental Management has this month filed two lawsuits against an Ardmore couple on allegations of keeping two unauthorized scrap tire piles containing more than 2,100 tires.

The court action, filed in Limestone County circuit court, comes after ADEM levied fines totaling more than $21,000 against Stanley Schult and Lola Camp. Camp allegedly owns one of the lots where tires are stocked and she and Schult are co-owners of the other lot.

ADEM officials allege Schult has refused to pay the fines and the department is now seeking legal intervention to clear up what they say is a health and safety hazard as well as a violation of the Alabama Scrap Tire Environmental Quality Act.

In 2015, ADEM officials visited the tire yards and found at least 1,000 at the lot in the 26000 block of Overmyer Lane and at least 1,140 at the lot in the 27000 block of Pinedale Road. Under state law, a landowner cannot have more than 100 scrap tires on their property for more than 30 days unless the site is authorized as a tire recycling facility or landfill.

A violation notice was issued to Schult and Camp in early 2016 and the fine issued in September. In court documents, ADEM officials say they have not received payment from Schult or a plan to clean up the tire piles.

Schult spoke with media outlets in August and said he was told ADEM is concerned the tires are a host for mosquitoes, but that he turns them over twice each year and sprays them with a chemical pesticide. He added he was not going to pay the fines and planned to seek his own legal counsel.

In the lawsuits, ADEM officials allege Schult and Camp are not certified to operate a landfill and that the couple did not “comply with the requirements applicable to the proper management of scrap tires.”

“Mr. Schult and Ms. Camp failed to demonstrate a standard of care commensurate with applicable scrap tire management requirements …” ADEM officials wrote in court documents. “The Defendants’ failure to comply (with ADEM) has resulted in a continuing threat to public health and the environment.”

A court date for the case has not been set.