Property owners foot bill for meth lab cleanups

By CHARLES WILSON
Associated Press Writer
April 4, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS

Indiana’s methamphetamine epidemic is leaving property owners stuck with the cleanup bill long after the meth labs have been dismantled by police.

An Indiana law that took effect two years ago says the cost of cleanup falls to property owners even though they likely had nothing to do with cooking the illegal drug.

That tab, said Phil Ball of Aegis Environmental Inc. in Greenwood, can run anywhere from $5,000 to $35,000.

More landlords are liable to face such bills. Indiana State Police and other agencies uncovered 1,092 labs in the state in 2008, a 31 percent increase from 2007 and the second-highest number since state police began tracking the statistics in 1995.

Homes, apartments, house trailers, hotels and motels all can be havens for meth labs, which often use common household chemicals. Many of the ingredients can be dangerous if inhaled, and others can cause severe burns. “They’re refining household chemicals. There’s a reason these household chemicals have warning labels on them,” Ball said.

They’re still dangerous after they’re mixed together and “cooked.” Even short-term exposure to vapors and residue where the drug is smoked or cooked can cause eye and skin irritation, vomiting, rashes, asthma problems and other respiratory issues.

The fumes soak into virtually every porous surface in the home and then are gassed off over time. That means the danger remains long after the meth is gone.

Exposure can lead to nausea, headache, malaise and memory loss, said Tara Still, an environmentalist with the Elkhart County Health Department’s Environmental Health Division.

A state law that took effect in March 2007 sets strict standards for cleanup and says properties where meth was made cannot be sold, rented or occupied until they’re deemed safe by a state-certified inspector.

An owner can try to cut some of the cost by doing the work himself or having an employee do it. That’s what Rex Crump of Plymouth, who manages more than 200