METH LAB CLEANUP FUNDS ENDANGERED

A new provision attached to a federal grant program threatens to hamstring methamphetamine lab investigations and put drug task forces out of business, says a director of the local program.

Next year, as a condition for accepting funds from the Edward Byrne memorial grant, the U.S. Justice Department will require law enforcement agencies to employ outside contractors to remove all chemicals and equipment seized from meth labs.

While that seems like a reasonable idea on paper, the practical impact of it would be financially devastating to the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force, said director Kevin Glaser.

He likened the requirement to the infamous $500 hammers and toilet seats charged by defense contractors.

"I think a lot of it has to do with not having a clear picture of what goes on down here," Glaser said.

"They see photographs and news clips of super-labs' in California and get the idea we're dealing with something similar," he said.

But Glaser said he's more likely to be dealing with a jar of common household drain cleaner and a Coleman stove.

Cost prohibitive

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources estimates the current cost to clean up a lab averages about $68. The average cost using an East St. Louis disposal contractor is about $4,000. Once the grant ran out, the state would be obligated to pay the higher amount.

Because of the conflict, the state may be forced to pull out of the federal grant, which funds all the drug task forces in Missouri.

This year, the grant provided the state $8,663,862. One of 26 similar programs in the state, the Southeast Missouri Drug Task force's share of that money was a little more than $200,000.

"If this is not resolved, we start pulling the plug Jan. 1," Glaser said.

Glaser wrote a letter to U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond asking him to intervene.

Bond responded by sending a letter Wednesday to Attorney General John Ashcroft explaining the problem and asking him to review and modify the regulation.

Calls Thursday to the Department of Justice were not immediately returned.

Meanwhile, the Missouri Department of Public Safety, the state administrative agency for the Edward Byrne memorial grant, refuses to agree to the outside contractor condition. They've also requested the Department of Justice to review the requirement.

A model program

In a July 2 memorandum from state public safety director Charles R. Jackson to a representative of the Justice Department's bureau of justice assistance, Jackson requests the provisions be re-negotiated.

The memo, obtained by the Southeast Missourian, said the conditions attached to the grant are counterproductive to the goals of the state's Methamphetamine Initiative begun in 1998 by the late governor Mel Carnahan.

He points out the Byrne grant was instrumental in that effort, helping pay for 25 methamphetamine clandestine laboratory response trailers, lab analysis equipment, officer safety equipment for meth lab cleanup and training for law enforcement officers and community members.

"These programs have become a model for other states," Jackson wrote.

John Sachen can testify to that. A training officer with the Delta Fire District and a state fire instructor, he's handled fires and waste at meth labs and wrote a nationally distributed training manual on the topic.

A provision to hire outside contractors is "encumbering the system," Sachen said.

Missouri has been very successful in developing a safe and economic approach to a growing problem, Sachen said.

"You have folks from New York coming in to see our program because it's working," Sachen said.