WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation this week that charges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the development of guidelines to assist state and local authorities in cleaning up former methamphetamine lab sites.  Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) co-sponsored and voted for the bill.  Stupak said the legislation would help communities across Michigan clean up methamphetamine labs and the toxic mess they leave behind.

“Methamphetamine labs are often found in residential settings like houses, apartments or hotel rooms,” Stupak said.  “Because the chemicals used in making methamphetamine are so volatile, the toxic residue left behind can threaten the health of whoever occupies that space next.”

“While some states have already passed laws that require the remediation of former methamphetamine labs, there is no good health based data to guide that process,” Stupak continued.  

In addition to establishing federal guidelines for states to follow in cleaning up the sites of former methamphetamine labs, the bill would also direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology to consult with EPA in developing technologies to detect methamphetamine labs, emphasizing field test kits for law enforcement.  The measure also instructs the National Academy of Sciences to study the long-term health impacts of methamphetamine exposure on first responders and on children taken from methamphetamine lab sites.

State and local law enforcement agencies often name methamphetamine as one of the greatest drug threats to American communities.  The Drug Enforcement Administration reports that more than 340 methamphetamine labs were seized in Michigan in 2005 and more than 350 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized in the state that year. 

A former Michigan State Police trooper and Escanaba city police officer, Stupak has a long history of working on law enforcement and substance abuse issues.  Stupak is founder and current co-Chair of the U.S. House Law Enforcement Caucus.  One of Stupak’s first pieces of legislation to pass Congress and be signed into law was a bill helping to outlaw the drug “CAT,” or methcathinone, a drug similar to methamphetamine that was all too prevalent in the Upper Peninsula and the upper Midwest in the early 1990s. 

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