Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2004
Source: Daily Times, The (TN)
Copyright: 2004 Horvitz Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.thedailytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1455
Author: Lance Coleman

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.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart