« Ind. Courts - Attorneys must qualify for death penalty trials | Main | Ind. Decisions - Judge Upholds Prayer Limits in Ind. State House - a Review and Preview »

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Ind. Law - State working on rules to clean up waste from one-time meth labs

"State working on rules to clean up waste from one-time meth labs" is the headline to a very long story today by Angela Mapes in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. The story reports that "the Methamphetamine Protection Act of 2005, or Senate Enrolled Act 444" regulated:

the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and has been the subject of both praise and irritation as Indiana residents have grappled with the inconvenience of having some of their cold medications monitored.

A lesser-known facet of the law requires the Indiana State Police and county sheriffs to develop a process for reporting the termination of meth labs to local fire services and county health departments.

The law also requires the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to develop and administer a program for the inspection or cleanup of property contaminated by the waste from the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine.

Bruce Palin, assistant commissioner for IDEM’s Office of Land Quality, said IDEM and the Indiana Department of Health, in cooperation with the state police and other agencies, are working together to create a meth rule in accordance with the new legislation.

Methamphetamine lab cleanup is new territory for IDEM, Palin said. “This is really our first involvement,” Palin said. “We’ve not dealt with this issue in the past at all.”

In addition to giving local health departments more cleanup guidance, the rule will require that meth sites be cleaned up only by certified contractors or people.

IDEM is working toward having a draft of the new rule [Note: see below], but it will still require public comment periods and review by other state agencies before final adoption, Palin said. The earliest the rule will could be formally adopted would be sometime in the summer, he said.

Part of IDEM’s role in the process will be certifying cleanup contractors according to federal requirements for personal protection. The draft of the rule, as it stands now, requires that contractors score 80 percent correct on a test based on IDEM’s training course, Palin said.

The draft version of the proposed rule was in fact published in the Jan. 1, 2006 Indiana Register and may be accessed here. Here is the summary:
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has developed draft rule language for new rules at 329 IAC 17 concerning the inspection and cleanup of properties contaminated by chemicals used in the illegal manufacture of a controlled substance. This rulemaking is required by IC 13-14-1-15. This rule would include the following subject matter:

• Requirements to have a contaminated property decontaminated and inspected before reoccupying or reusing the property or transferring any interest in the property to another person.
• Qualification and certification of persons who inspect and clean contaminated property.
• Standards for inspection and decontamination of contaminated property.

IDEM seeks comment on the affected citations listed and any other provisions of Title 329 that may be affected by this rulemaking.

Comments are due to IDEM by Feb. 1, 2006. (This is known as the 2nd Comment Period.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 1, 2006 07:54 AM
Posted to Indiana Law