METH CLEANUP A LONG PROCESS

Nothing drops a property's value quiet like playing host to a
methamphetamine lab.

According to David Weekley, president of Environmental Testing and
Consulting, LLC in Knoxville, often the public ``tags'' a home as a meth
house and it loses tremendous value, even though contractors have cleaned
and restored the structure.

``A lot of times the structure is still labeled because it's been in the
newspaper and everybody knows it been used as a meth house,'' he said.

Personnel with Weekley's go into buildings or homes where meth labs have
been seized and determine how best to remove chemical residue from the
structure.

``We're having to help this home owner solve the problem and the (work) is
not covered under insurance or the house is tagged as a `meth house' and
nobody wants to buy it,'' he said.

The company plans how best to make the structure inhabitable again and how
to restore the value of the home or business, he said.

Weekley started the business in 1997. His staff works with 20 different
agencies, in 15 different Tennessee counties and planned clean ups at about
70 locations in 2003.

``We do a lot in Cookeville and Anderson County. In the East Tennessee
region we've done quiet a bit,'' he said.

According to Weekley, often the occupant who ran the lab is either in jail
or has disappeared and isn't there to explain what chemicals contaminated
the structure.

``We go in and do the testing to determine how bad the problem is,'' he
said. ``We can determine if the house or commercial building is
contaminated and we can make recommendations as to how to fix it or remove
the material.''

The contractors they use must be certified to ``abate'' the damage caused
by the methamphetamine chemicals, Weekley said.

``There are a couple of other contractors -- we do a design for the
decontamination of the house and they implement what we say,'' he said.

Methamphetamine is composed of about 15 different chemicals that can be
absorbed into concrete or sheet rock, he said.

``If any of those materials show up with these chemicals, we remove it and
replace it,'' he said.

The cost of restoring the home or building depends on the size of the
contaminated area, Weekley said.

``The more square footage you deal with the more the cost,'' he said.

In one example, his team planned the cleanup of a lab in a small closet at
the back of a grocery store and it cost between $2,000 and $3,000.

Another structure, a 5,000- square-foot house in Cleveland, Tenn., cost
about $20,000 to restore, he said.

The damaged material at a restored structure in East Tennessee is bagged
and hauled to the Chestnut Ridge landfill located between Knoxville and
LaFollette, Weekley said.

According to Capt. Ron Talbott with the Fifth Judicial Drug Task Force,
when agents seize a methamphetamine lab at a residence or property, the
owner is notified by letter of the toxic chemicals that could be present at
the location.

``This puts them on notice,'' he said. ``It says known hazardous chemicals
and substances were seized by the government and have been disposed of
according to federal laws.''

The letter also serves as a warning there still may be hazardous substances
or waste products on the property, he said.

Talbott said a concern agents have after seizing a meth lab at a rental
property is the effect any remaining chemicals could have on the adults and
children who may live there.

``You never know what they (the lab operators) dumped or spilled on the
property or in the carpet,'' he said.