LAWMAKERS POSTPONE ACTION ON METH-LAB CLEANUP MEASURE

Meth drug labs can be dangerous; the toxic wastes they leave behind
costly to property owners and dangerous to humans.

But the danger of government's excessive and expensive cleanups could
pose a greater danger.

So believe a number of House members who Wednesday postponed action on
a groundbreaking bill that would aid police, health officials and
property owners struggling to clean up an estimated 100 "temporary"
methamphetamine production labs busted each year in Utah.

Capt. Kevin Youngberg of the Utah Department of Public Safety urged
members of the Legislature's Interim Judiciary Committee to adopt the
meth lab cleanup bill sponsored by Rep. Lamont Tyler, R-East Millcreek.

But Reps. Dave Ure, R-Kamas; Bill Hickman, R-St. George; and others on
the committee said they worry that the state Department of
Environmental Quality or other state regulators would write such
strict rules on the cleanups that more harm than good would result.

Youngberg explained that meth labs are a booming business in Utah.
While large labs used to be the norm for the illegal drug production,
now small, "mom and pop" labs can be set up overnight, the drugs
"cooked" and the lab taken down.

The labs are moved so quickly that some drug dealers are actually
renting hotel and motel rooms for a day or two to "cook" their
product. When they leave, the rooms can be dangerously contaminated.
In worst-case scenarios, a family with children could rent the room
next and the children could be poisoned with the chemicals left on the
walls and carpets.

Besides the health hazards, cleanup in a 10-foot-by-10-foot room could
cost $6,000, depending on how thorough the cleansing job is, Youngberg
said. Cleaning up a whole house where the lab has operated for some
time could cost $20,000 or more.

Police agencies have the power to seize drug dealers' property. But
Youngberg said he has studiously refused to seize real property used
in the drug business. "I don't want to make the state the owner of a
toxic waste area," he said.

Four or five firms now specialize in the cleanups, a growing business
considering that drug lab busts are up 46 percent in 1999 over a year
ago, he added.

Ure said he fears DEQ could proscribe such tough cleanup requirements
that but the tiniest amounts of chemicals would be cleaned up, costing
much more than was really needed to make the room or house safe for
humans again.