Monday, July 13, 2009

Methamphetamine and Hazardous Waste

You find hazardous waste in the strangest places, as this post from Brackett Report Pages will attest. The ingredients used to make methamphetamine are a toxic brew that results in generation of hazardous waste as bad as, or far worse than, anything you'll find in an industrial facility. West Virginia has a significant meth production problem, according to the police reports in state newspapers. The result is felt by the DEP, which is called upon to remove dangerous chemicals when they are found by police during meth raids. One effect of that is to draw down funds in the DEP's emergency response fund, which is ordinarily used to respond to more conventional releases of hazardous waste, like industrial spills or highway accidents.

The DEP has developed some guidance for recognizing meth labs, although for some reason it no longer is connected to the DEP web site. You can find the material here.

No comments:

Post a Comment