The geographic and societal diffusion of the illicit production of methamphetamine (meth)has spread hazardous manufacturing wastes, and related concerns, into communities nationwide. The need to reduce the potential safety, health, and environmental hazards of these wastes, bycleaning and remediating the sites of illicit production, consequently also has spread nationwide. "Clean-up" is the term often used to describe removing gross, or large-scale, contaminants, such asequipment and large quantities of chemicals; clean-up is usually done for the purpose of securingevidence for criminal investigations, and for reducing imminent hazards such as explosions or fires. "Remediation" is often used to describe removing residual, or small-scale, contaminants such aschemical residues in carpeting or walls, usually for the purpose of rehabilitating a facility forreoccupancy or reuse. While there are many ways to make meth, the most common way begins withover-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, (1) and often involves cookingwith acetone, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, ether, and anhydrous ammonia to seriallyconcentrate and purify the meth. Cooking meth, which can result in eye and respiratory irritations,chemical burns, explosions and fires, toxic waste products, and contaminated surroundings, can bedangerous to the meth "cook," to the people and community around the lab, and to those persons whofirst come upon the lab, such as fire fighters, law enforcement officials, emergency medicaltechnicians, or social welfare workers. There are reports of emergency medical technicians andpolice officers suffering burns, eye and respiratory irritations, nausea, and other injuries not just atmeth labs, but even from treating persons removed from the labs. (2) Depending on the process used and the skill of the cook, each pound of meth produces aboutsix pounds of hazardous waste. Illicit meth "cooks" usually dump this waste into sewers, streams,rivers, or the ground near the lab (which may be farmland, or land over groundwater supplies), alonghighways, in parks and forests, or on hiking trails. Water used to extinguish lab fires also carriestoxic chemicals into the environment. Cooking meth can also infuse carpeting, walls, furniture,water supplies, and the ground with toxic chemicals. (3) Residues of meth have been measured as high as 16,000micrograms per 100 square centimeters of surface, with levels as high as 300 micrograms per 100square centimeters as long as six months after the last cook, sometimes far from the actual cookingarea. (4) While health effects on a user from direct use of meth have been well-studied, long-termhealth-effects research on exposures to substances associated with illicit meth production has justrecently begun. Such health-effects research considers impacts on children, as well as on adults, whomight be in the vicinity of a meth-making site. There are no uniform federal guidelines or standards governing the clean-up or remediationof former meth sites, either for meth residues themselves, or for chemicals related to illicit methproduction, partly because there is a lack of health-effects research upon which to base suchguidelines or standards. "Guidelines," as used in this report, are discretionary recommendations,often using the word "should." "Standards" are mandatory, nondiscretionary regulations which mustbe followed, often denoted by words like "shall" or "prohibited." Guidelines may be developed byregulators into more stringent standards. There generally have been four main approaches to cleaning meth sites. The United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) can respond directly when a pollutant or contaminant atan STL site presents an imminent or substantial danger to public health or welfare, but most STLsdo not rise to this level. (5) For most STLs, state and local governments can pay to clean a meth site, then apply to EPA forreimbursement which is capped at $25,000 per incident. Alternatively, rather than pay directly forclean-up and later apply for reimbursement from EPA, state and local governments instead can notifythe United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in the United States Department ofJustice, and DEA will take responsibility and arrange for clean-up. In addition, there have beenfunds available from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to redevelop ofa former meth site. The approaches to remediate meth sites are more variable, involving private, local, and statedecisions. Remediation is an additional cost, after clean-up. Neither EPA nor DEA funds areavailable for remediation. Owners of contaminated private property, e.g., an apartment building ora motel, need to decide whether remediation is sensible; remediation cost estimates may exceed thevalue of the property. Local or state governments need to decide whether to remediate or restrictaccess to a contaminated public area, e.g., a hiking trail or parking lot in a forest. Remediation isdiscussed further in the section below on "Clean-up and Remediation Procedures." Remediation costs vary, depending on the severity of contamination with meth and/ormeth-related compounds. The average cost to clean a meth lab is estimated to range from $1,500to $3,000, with some clean-ups exceeding $200,000. (6) The cost of remediating an average-size site has been estimatedat $50,000, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. (7) Several factors contribute to the geographic and societal diffusion of illicit meth productionand use. Methamphetamine (meth) is a Schedule II narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act(CSA), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. CSAregulates the manufacture and distribution of drugs, and places all drugs into one of five schedules. A drug in Schedule II, like meth, has current accepted medical use and has high potential forabuse. (8) Meth has limitedmedical uses for the treatment of narcolepsy, attention deficit disorders, and obesity. (9) This report focuses on illicituse and production of meth, and subsequent clean-up and remediation issues. Meth production, trafficking, and abuse, in general, are concentrated in the western,southwestern, and midwestern United States. Meth is primarily supplied by clandestine laboratoriesin Mexico and California. There are some "super-labs" (labs capable of producing in excess of tenpounds of meth in one twenty-four hour production cycle) in Mexico and the United Statesproducing meth and other drugs, with vast networks of transporters, distributors, and money brokerswho distribute not only meth, but also cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and MDMA (more commonlyknown as "ecstasy"). While meth made in super-labs is for broad distribution, meth made insmall-scale labs tends to be for personal use or limited distribution. Successful closure in the UnitedStates of some super-labs, the relative ease of producing meth, the continuing demand for the drug,and the desire for potential wealth and involvement in a criminal underground social activity,contributed to an increase, through 2003, in meth production in small clandestine labs, also knownas small, toxic labs (STLs). (10) Official data aggregate the numbers of meth labs, dump sites,chemicals, glass, and other equipment, and are reported as meth incidents. Since 2003, thenationwide numbers of meth incidents has declined, as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Number of All Meth Incidents (including labs, dump sites, chemicals, glass, andequipment) Source: United States Drug Enforcement Administration, National Clandestine LaboratoryDatabase. "Total of All Meth Clandestine Laboratory Incidents," http://www.dea.gov/concern/map_lab_seizures.html . According to state law enforcement and public health professionals, the decline in meth incidentsthat occurred between 2003 and 2004 was the result of a few factors: Some states and retailers began to institute policies to restrict access tononprescription pseudoephedrine-containing decongestants, a common methingredient. Over time, the number of states and retailers restricting access to methingredients increased, which made the tactic of traveling to a nearby state or store that did not havea policy to restrict access to meth ingredients more difficult. Some pharmaceutical companies reformulated their nonprescriptiondecongestants to exclude pseudoephedrine. Stiffer sentences for those convicted of illegally making meth furtherdiscouraged involvement with STLs. (11) In December 2005, Iowa state authorities reported a decline of approximately 80% followingthe passage, in May 2005, of a state law restricting access to pseudoephedrine. (12) Subsequent to the passageof similar laws, state officials in Oklahoma and Oregon each reported a decline of approximately50%. (13) The declineis expected to be seen nationwide, when complete 2005 data become available. Although only 20% of illicit meth used in the United States comes from STLs, (14) the sheer number of suchlabs, their residual impacts, and their geographic diffusion, have prompted concerns in Congress,state and local governments, law enforcement agencies, and real estate and other groups. There generally are greater concerns about the environmental wastes from STLs than fromsuper-labs, for several reasons. First, there is a trend for super-labs, and their wastes, to be inMexico, where the ingredients for illicit meth can be obtained more easily than in the United States.