I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 5589

To facilitate the cleanup of environmental degradation caused in the manufacture of methamphetamine and to combat illegal drug use by imposing

new monetary fines on the manufacture and trafficking of

methamphetamines.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 27, 2000

Mr. COX (for himself, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mrs. BONO, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr.

ROHRABACHER, Mr. GARY MILLER of California, and Mr. HUTCHINSON)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Commerce

A BILL

To facilitate the cleanup of environmental degradation caused

in the manufacture of methamphetamine and to combat

illegal drug use by imposing new monetary fines on the

manufacture and trafficking of methamphetamines.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Orphan Meth Lab

5 Cleanup Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) Methamphetamine is not just a serious drug

2 problem; it’s also a serious environmental problem.

3 (2) On average, the manufacture of 1 pound of

4 meth creates 5 pounds of toxic wastes. Some of the

5 most toxic chemicals involved in, or crated by, the

6 manufacture of meth include benzene (a major com7 ponent of the banned substance DDT, and which is

8 highly flammable and poisonous), ether (highly un9 stable and explosive), hydriodic acid (extremely cor10 rosive, causing third-degree burns upon contact with

11 human flesh), and red phosphorous (when heated

12 during the meth-making process, turns into

13 phosphine gas, a nerve agent so potent that its use

14 is barred under the Chemical Weapons Convention).

15 (3) Meth production poses a significant hazard

16 to wilderness areas. For large-scale drug manufac17 turing facilities, meth producers commonly seek out

18 sites in remote or sparsely populated areas in order

19 to avoid detection—often desert, wilderness, or other

20 land that has been deliberately left alone because of

21 ecological value.

22 (4) Meth production poses a significant hazard

23 to the safety of the food supply. A considerable

24 amount of meth production takes place on fallow

25 farm land or adjacent to productive farm land, and
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1 runs the risk of causing contamination of crops and

2 agricultural products.

3 (5) Meth production poses a significant public

4 health hazard. For smaller-scale ‘‘mom and pop’’

5 drug production efforts, meth will often be produced

6 in apartment buildings, motel rooms, and other resi7 dential areas—putting at risk the health of children,

8 senior citizens, and other vulnerable populations who

9 might live or work nearby.

10 (6) Cleanup of the environmental damage

11 caused by meth labs imposes direct costs on Federal

12 taxpayers. A number of meth lab sites have become

13 so polluted that the Environmental Protection Agen14 cy added them to the Superfund National Priorities

15 List.

16 (7) Cleanup of so-called ‘‘orphan’’ meth labs—

17 that is, those sites where the government can’t iden18 tify or find the persons who created the environ19 mental damage—is proving an especially significant

20 burden on taxpayers. This year in California alone,

21 local taxpayers will spend $10,000,000 to clean up

22 the environmental damage caused by meth produc23 tion at nearly 1,800 sites.
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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

2 The purpose of this Act is to relieve taxpayers from

3 the burdens associated with the cleanup and environ4 mental restoration of ‘‘orphan’’ meth lab sites by imposing

5 tough new monetary fines on meth manufacturers, dis6 tributors, and users.

7 SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR METHAMPHETAMINE; ORPHAN

8 METHAMPHETAMINE LAB CLEANUP AC9 COUNT.

10 (a) AMENDMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL

11 ACT.—(1) Section 15 of the Toxic Substances Control Act

12 (15 U.S.C. 2601 and following) is amended by striking

13 ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph (3), by striking the period

14 at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting ‘‘; or’’ and by

15 adding the following new paragraph at the end thereof:

16 ‘‘(5) manufacture, distribute, or dispense or

17 possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or

18 dispense 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, its

19 salts, isomers, or salts of its isomers or 500 grams

20 or more of a mixture or substance containing a de21 tectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, iso22 mers, or salts of its isomers.’’

23 (2) Section 16 of such Act is amended by adding the

24 following at the end thereof:

25 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES WITH RESPECT TO METHAMPHET26 AMINE; METHAMPHETAMINE LAB CLEANUP.—(1) Any
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1 penalty imposed with respect to methamphetamine under

2 this Act shall be in addition to any civil or criminal penalty

3 imposed with respect to methamphetamine under any

4 other provision of law. All civil and criminal penalties im5 posed with respect to methamphetamine under this Act

6 shall be deposited in a separate account in the Treasury

7 (to be referred to as the ‘Orphan Meth Lab Cleanup Ac8 count’).

9 ‘‘(2) All amounts deposited in the Orphan Meth Lab

10 Cleanup Account are authorized to be appropriated to the

11 Administrator for the purpose of making grants to local

12 governments to be used to reimburse local governments

13 for all or a portion of the expenses incurred by such local

14 governments for the remediation of facilities at which

15 methamphetamine was manufactured or processed and for

16 which no responsible party is available to provide such re17 imbursement. Any local government that has incurred an

18 expense referred to in this paragraph may submit an ap19 plication to the Administrator for reimbursement from the

20 Orphan Meth Lab Cleanup Account. The Administrator

21 shall make annual grants to local governments submitting

22 reimbursement requests under this section for any fiscal

23 year. The amount of grants received by a local government

24 in any fiscal year may not exceed the greater of—
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1 ‘‘(A) the costs incurred by such local govern2 ment during the immediately prior fiscal year for the

3 remediation of facilities at which methamphetamine

4 was manufactured or processed and for which no re5 sponsible party is available to provide reimburse6 ment; or

7 ‘‘(B) the percentage of the total amount avail8 able in the account that is determined by dividing (i)

9 the costs referred to in subparagraph (A) by (ii) the

10 costs incurred by all local governments submitting

11 reimbursement requests for costs incurred during

12 the immediately prior fiscal year for the remediation

13 of facilities at which methamphetamine was manu14 factured or processed and for which no responsible

15 party is available to provide reimbursement.’’.

Æ