Officials Push for Meth Cleanup Bill
By: Dick Cook, Staff Writer
Chattanooga Times-Free Press
March 13, 2005

Some people in Southeast Tennessee may be getting sick from the effects of methamphetamine even though they’ve never used the drug, officials said.

Chad Johnson, a detective with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, said he recently spoke with a woman at a doctor’s office who told him she has had respiratory problems since moving into a rental house in Whitwell, Tenn.

"She wanted to know if we busted a meth lab there," Detective Johnson said. "I told her we had no record of that. She wanted to know who to call to see about getting the house tested." In coming weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives may vote on a bill that would establish national standards for cleaning up structures contaminated by the production of meth.

The Methamphetamine Remediation Research Act, cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., would establish testing procedures and give guidelines on how environmental companies can clean up buildings to make them safe to be lived in or worked in, officials said.

"Until we’re able to put a cap on meth production and use in Tennessee, there is going to be a dire need for cleanup of former meth sites," Rep. Davis said. "But it has to be done right."

Health experts testified before the House Committee on Science that some of the substances used to make the illegal stimulant can poison an environment.

The red phosphorous method of making meth produces "significant exposures to solvents, phosphine, iodine, hydrogen chloride and methamphetamine aerosol," John W. Martyny, an associate professor at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colo., told subcommittee members.

"We currently know that individuals moving into a home that has been used as a methamphetamine laboratory often have respiratory problems," Dr. Martyny testified.

The chemicals can also damage the central nervous system, the liver and the kidneys, he said. "This is especially true for children with developing nervous systems," Dr. Martyny told lawmakers.

Officials say children are present in about one-third of the labs investigated by law enforcement. Dr. Martyny said the bill would help owners understand what needs to be done to decontaminate their property.

"These guidelines will be able to combine the best of all of the existing state guidelines and provide a national guideline that will be available to all states, Dr. Martyny told the committee.

Tennessee may be ahead of other states in the region in cleaning up properties, officials said.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation keeps a list of companies certified to help people determine if a building is contaminated and how to clean it up.

"I believe we are the first state in the southeast to actually have cleanup standards," said Brad Parman, a risk assessment coordinator with TDEC. "I get some pretty heartbreaking phone calls from people trying to do the cleanup themselves, and they don’t know what to do next."

John Nale, who works for Marion Environmental Inc., recently completed a three-day seminar sponsored by TDEC on cleaning up meth contamination. Mr. Nale said the company has decontaminated a handful of properties where meth has been produced.

The TDEC cleanup program calls for different measures, depending on how much of and how long the drug had been produced there, officials said.

"It goes from washing of things to complete removal and disposal of porous materials including carpet, clothing and drywall," Mr. Nale said. "It can all get ripped out."

The cost averages from $6,000 to $7,000, he said, which is too expensive for many property owners.

"Two out of three times they won’t do it because of the money," he said.

Law enforcement officials say Tennessee is ranked third in the nation in the number of meth labs dismantled, and the southeastern part of the state has the highest concentration of labs.

The Southeast Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force has provided training to law enforcement on how to safely dismantle meth labs, said Paul Laymon, an assistant U.S. attorney who helped establish the group in 1999.

"We began seeing a lot of meth labs and were trying to figure out how to safely deal with them," Mr. Laymon said. "We got a handful of officers in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (meth) course in Quantico (Va.). They came back and trained others."

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., recognized early that federal funding was needed to combat the meth problem. He helped get the task force $1 million a year for overtime and training. This year, he said, the funding has increased to $2 million and the task force has expanded into Middle Tennessee.

"There are a whole host of issues involving meth," Rep. Wamp said. "People ask us where is the legal line on rental property. The truth is the person who owns the property is responsible for the environmental problems.

"I support every bill going in the direction of attacking the meth problem," he said.

Officers at a meth bust wear protective suits and breathing gear. A contracted environmental company comes to the scene and carts the materials away for disposal.

In some cases a sign is posted informing the community that meth has been produced in the structure, officials said, and a note attached to the property deed in county records.

But law enforcement officials say citizens have complained of becoming ill after living in houses where meth may have been cooked.

Rep. Davis said a young couple in White County bought a house and weren’t aware that it had been the site of a meth lab. "She told me there was fuzzy stuff growing out of the light sockets," he said. "They’ve got a mortgage on the house and were literally forced to move. That’s what this bill gets at: To make cleanup available."