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Department of Ecology News Release - October 4, 2001
01-177
OLYMPIA - Late last week, state spill responders cleaned up their 1,455th methamphetamine lab, breaking last year's record of 1,454 with three months still left in the year.
Since 1995, the number of meth labs cleaned by the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) has climbed by 35 to 155 percent each year. Although 2001 is setting another record, the rate of growth is slowing down, expected to be about 38 percent this year.
"This year's percentage increase is a little smaller, but it's still 600 more labs than last year. The phone just keeps ringing," said Dave Byers, who manages Ecology's spill responders.
Byers attributed much of the increase in recent years to increased training of police and deputies.
"The more they learn about what to look for, the more they find," he said. Byers expects his staff will clean up about 2,000 labs by the end of this year.
As in past years, more meth labs have been found in Pierce County this year than anywhere else in Washington, with a total of 486 at the end of September. That's more than double the number of labs found in any of the "second-tier" counties of King (200), Spokane (193) or Thurston (105). Statewide, the cleanup tally reached 1,480 at the end of September.
The Ecology Department is responsible for removing chemicals and hazardous materials from indoor and outdoor meth labs in Washington. Local health departments then oversee the cleanup of residual contamination left inside buildings; those costs usually are the responsibility of the buildings' owners.
Although Ecology's spills program was created to prevent and clean up oil spills and releases of hazardous substances, meth cleanups have become the largest part of the workload. The governor and legislature have provided funding to hire 10 spill responders who spend all their time cleaning up meth labs.
To help contain expenses, Ecology's spill-response employees have pioneered cost-saving measures that avoided more than $2 million in costs last year on meth cleanups. The savings were achieved by doing all the cleanups themselves, rather than paying private contractors to assist with the work, as was the practice in the mid-1990s. Their efforts recently earned them a Quality and Service Improvement Award from Gov. Gary Locke.
Editor's note: Reporters who want to view a meth cleanup are invited to contact the Ecology office nearest you -- Bellevue, 425-649-7009; Lacey, 360-407-6239; Spokane, 509-456-4464; or Yakima, 509-575-2610.For interviews: Sheryl Hutchison, Communication Director, 360-407-7004 Dave Byers, spill-response manager, 360-407-6974
Drug-lab information on Ecology's Web site: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/spills/response/responsetable.htm#DrugLabs (Link removed 09/08/08)
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
