DELAYS IN METH LAB CLEANUPS PERTURB POLICE

A Team must come from Kansas City, Kan., for every job.

Des Moines police had to baby-sit a methamphetamine lab for about 12 hours
Monday while waiting for a hazardous-waste disposal team from Kansas City
to arrive.

Police say such a wait -and the resulting overtime costs and wasted time
for anti-drug officers -has been common since the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration signed a five-year contract with hazardous-waste disposal
company Enviro-Solve in October 1997.

"We're just sitting there doing nothing. Absolutely nothing," said Lt.
Clarence Jobe, head of the Des Moines Police Department's anti-drug unit.

Many Complaints

"It has been a major problem. We've complained and complained about that."

State and federal drug agents are optimistic that the problem will be
solved within a few months, with plans under way to establish an Iowa
hazardous-waste disposal team.

Enviro-Solve, a company based in Tulsa, Okla., holds the federal contract
for hazardous-waste disposal in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona and the
western two-thirds of Missouri. A crew based in Kansas City, Kan., is
called to Iowa every time investigators find a meth lab with hazardous waste.

Ken Carter, director of Iowa's Division of Narcotics Enforcement, said his
state meth lab team was called to 320 meth labs or chemical dump sites in
1998. This year, they've been called to about 80 so far.

But the state officials are there to get evidence, not to dispose of the
leftovers. Enviro-Solve is in charge of that job. Des Moines police Lt.
Clarence Jobe said the average wait for Enviro-Solve is about four to eight
hours.

No Repositories

Enviro-Solve spokesman Jim Fehrle said part of the problem stems from Iowa
itself. He said Iowa has no incinerators or landfills for meth-related
hazardous waste and no state agency in charge of handling it. Those
responsibilities were handed over to the federal Environmental Protection
Agency in 1985, he said.

Last month, Fehrle met with state and federal drug agents to talk about the
slow response times to the increasing number of meth labs being found in
Iowa. He also interviewed companies in Des Moines, although he said none
meet federal requirements to perform hazardous- waste disposal.

On Tuesday, Fehrle was preparing a newspaper advertisement to look for
anyone qualified and willing to help his company with hazardous-waste
disposal from meth labs in Iowa. He said the ad would run soon in The Des
Moines Register.

"We're trying to solve the problem," Fehrle said. "I'm trying real hard to
get somebody up there. I'm going to be putting a branch of my office in Des
Moines."

Police could hire their own contractor to dispose of the hazardous waste.
But cleanup is expensive, with work at even a simple meth lab costing about
$4,500 to $5,000. The federal government covers that under the current
arrangement.

Carter said he's optimistic that within 30 to 45 days, a hazardous-waste
disposal crew will be established in Des Moines.

But David Lorino, resident agent of the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration office in Des Moines, warns that the problem won't be solved
overnight. "Putting a crew in Des Moines will help, but it won't solve all
the long waits," he said.

Reporter Lynn Okamoto can be reached at (515) 284-8088 or
okamotol@news.dmreg.com