METH LAB GARGAGE FOUND

SPRING BEACH -- Remnants of what officials are saying was a large meth
lab were found last Tuesday in a ravine on S.W. Spring Beach Road. An
investigation is under way. There are no suspects in the illegal dumping.

Sixteen gallons of corrosive liquids, 25 gallons of flammable liquids,
and 60 pounds of solids were discovered after someone living in the
area reported smelling something suspicious in the forest.

A state Department of Ecology Toxic Cleanup Program team responded, as
did the King County Sheriff's Office and Vashon Island Fire & Rescue.

"It didn't look like it had been there that long. It was covered with
leaves but things hadn't started to rust," said Carl Anderson, who
works for the state DOE's Toxic Cleanup Program.

The mess was reported at 10:40 a.m. Nov. 16. The DOE responded by 5:30
p.m. All that remained Wednesday morning were bits of paper and tire
tread marks in a muddy ravine leading to Spring Beach. Authorities had
worked overnight to clean up what one DOE official called a mess made
by "meth maggots."

Mariam Duerr of the DOE's Toxic Cleanup Program said it is common for
people involved with meth materials to find a spot they consider
remote, and then continue using that same spot.

"There are places in Pierce and Thurston counties that they can give
us the name of the road and we know where it is," Duerr said.

Federal law prohibits the DOE from taking any more than 200 pounds of
meth lab garbage away, she added.