HAZARDOUS WASTE CLEANUP FROM HAWKINS METHAMPHETAMINE LAB COULD BE AT LEAST
$50,000

KINGSPORT - It will cost at least $50,000 to clean up the hazardous waste
left behind from a clandestine methamphetamine lab explosion in Hawkins
County last month, according to Drug Enforcement Agency estimates The DEA
is footing the bill for the cleanup as it would in Kingsport if such an
event occurred.

But as meth labs become more prevalent, the burden will likely fall to
local governments, said Kingsport Police Chief Mark Addington.

"The DEA is providing professional clean up services now but that won't
last forever," Addington said.

"This presents a new challenge for us from a training and storage and
collection aspect," he said.

Methamphetamine is a schedule II stimulant that can produce a 10-hour high.

Addington has provided general information about meth labs, cleanup
procedures and civil liabilities to Kingsport City Manager Ray Griffith and
Kingsport aldermen since trends indicate clandestine labs will eventually
be operated in the Model City.

In addition to traditional problems with drug abuse, methamphetamine poses
health and environmental hazards since its manufacture creates toxic
byproducts.

"Cooked" in labs that resemble more of a modern-day moonshine still than a
scientific laboratory, the drug is made using household chemicals like
drain cleaner, antifreeze, lantern fuel and cold medication.

Once a lab is seized, large quantities of toxic chemicals, corrosives,
carcinogens and combustibles must be removed. For every pound of finished
product, five to six pounds of chemical waste are produced.

The explosion in Hawkins County killed two men, seriously injured a third,
and caused responding police officers and emergency personnel to need
decontamination. Uniforms had to be destroyed and cruisers and ambulances
had to be decontaminated as well.

Hawkins County officials have said material to make meth on a regular basis
for six to eight months was found at the site.

Though a meth lab has never been found in the Kingsport area, experts
predict that will change, evidenced by trends in Middle and West Tennessee,
Addington said.

Meth use was once a West Coast problem but the manufacture and sale of the
drug is rapidly spreading eastward.

National Drug Intelligence Center statistics indicate 1,116 meth labs were
seized in the Southeast from January 1999 through July 2001.

Tennessee led the region with 510. Virginia and Kentucky were not counted
as part of the Southeast.

U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick of Knoxville said the labs seized in Tennessee
were concentrated in 28 counties of the Sequatchie Valley and Cumberland
Plateau, from Chattanooga to Crossville and north to the Kentucky border.

According to a memo prepared by Deputy Police Chief Gale Osborne the
average cost of a cleanup ranges from $2,000 to 5,000.

Largely because of that cost, Kingsport has an agreement stipulating the
DEA and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation take charge of meth lab
investigations.

"It's just a matter of time until these things start showing up here in
town," Addington said.

Dave Light, community relations and training officer for the city of
Kingsport, said the Hawkins County explosion brought the impact a meth lab
can have to the forefront and that city leaders were keeping an "ever
vigilant eye" on the situation.

"This drug has been known to law enforcement agencies all across the county
but the production of it in this area has become more prevalent in recent
years," he said.

"Obviously the illicit manufacture of a drug like methamphetamines poses
multiple levels of danger, not the least of which is the aftermath that
creates hazardous and toxic byproducts."

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