As part of an agreement with the U.S. EPA, the owners of a tire incinerator located in a suburb of Chicago will close the facility permanently.

Intended as a way to keep tires out of landfills while generating electricity, the facility has repeatedly violated pollution controls since it started operations in 2005 and has struggled to make a profit, the Chicago Tribune reported. Its owner, Geneva Energy, shut down the incinerator in August 2011; its legal settlement with the U.S. EPA will make that closure permanent.

"This thing has been a mess since the beginning," Keith Kemp, a nearby resident, told the Tribune. "We still want to know why they allowed it to happen in the first place."

The only other dedicated tire burner operating in the U.S. is located in Sterling, Conn., the article indicates.