CLEANING UP METH LABS SHOULD GET CHEAPER

The cost of cleaning up methamphetamine labs in the area should go down now that a 12-foot-high, 8-foot-long, 6-foot-wide container has been placed behind the Jackson Fire Department.

The container is being provided at no expense to the area by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said Bradley Harris, environmental emergency specialist with the department.

This will give regional law enforcement a storage option for the chemical waste from meth labs that hasn't existed before, said Jim McKenney of the state fire marshal's office."Technically speaking, the labs haven't been stored properly," McKenney said.

The Cape Girardeau police typically keep their meth lab waste in a storage shed in their fenced parking lot, said Lt. Dennis Dolan. Until now, clean-up has been provided for by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which hires contractors to come in after law enforcement is finished. The estimated clean-up cost of $2,000 per lab in Southeast Missouri can be cut by the new container, McKenney said.

A contractor picks up the police's lab waste usually within four hours, or at least the same day, Dolan said.

This can get expensive, McKenney said, since contractors charge by the hour and for mileage on every lab they handle. By training police, sheriff's deputies and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers to clean up lab sites and sort out the hazardous materials before transporting them, costs will be less, McKenney said. Another savings factor is bulk storage. The containers would be allowed to hold waste for up to 270 days or 2,000 pounds, whichever is reached first, McKenney said. With DNR providing everything except the manpower needed to initially collect and store the waste, Dolan said the container should be a great benefit.

More than 30 law enforcement officers came Tuesday to a day-long training session sponsored by DNR at the Jackson Fire Department. Police and others received training in packaging hazardous materials, said Brad Golden, Jackson fire chief. When actual lab waste is brought in, a hazardous materials technician would sort the waste based on flammability and acidity, Golden said.

Most hazardous wastes at meth lab sites are flammable liquids, Harris said.

The new container will give law enforcement agencies within a 50-mile radius more secure storage, McKenney said.

The storage container itself is equipped with an internal, dry chemical fire extinguishing system, shelves with two-inch barriers at their edges to hold in spills and a sump pump built into the floor, he said. If the containers for various liquids are unopened and in good condition, the fire department will have the option of using them, McKenney said."We give them the option to use them, rather than declaring them waste," he said. "Starter fluid could go to the public works department, Coleman fuel could be given to the Boy Scouts."The container does not present any security risks, Golden said. The fire chief said he will be responsible for who has keys for the container. Dangers from storing meth lab waste in Jackson are minimal, McKenney said. Since the ingredients for making methamphetamine include denatured alcohol, drain cleaners and other common items, he compares it to what is gathered on a municipal household waste cleanup day.

Presently, 12 meth lab containers have been placed around the state, McKenney said. Containers have already been in place in Kennett and Poplar Bluff since early last year, Harris said. The DNR is planning on having 20 of the $12,000-containers dispersed around the state.