For Years, State and Local Officials Have Known That the Dangers

Access #: 517476 Headline: SOURCE NATION: Chemical leftovers pose human hazard: Records show that poor coordination and lack of regulation have permitted people to live in contaminated Inland properties. Date: 01/26/00 Day: Wednesday Credit: The Press -Enterprise Section: A Section Zone: ALL ZONES Page: A01 Byline: Dion Nissenbaum and Aldrin Brown Caption: Photography by Mark Zaleski; The Press -Enterprise 1. Unpleasant discovery: Manuel Trevino said he had no idea when he rented his house in Glen Avon that someone had used the home to make meth. He does not know if chemicals used to make the drug still contaminate his home. 2. Toxic waste: Mexican cartel drug cookers left behind their 50-gallon containers filled with iodine, red phosphorous and hydriodic acid waste after cooking methamphetamine . Some of the waste also was dumped on the ground, creating an environmental hazard. 3. Hiding places: Agents with the San Bernardino County sheriff's Methamphetamine Interdiction Team, above, enter a house in the 10900 block of Oleander Avenue in Fontana in search of a suspected meth lab. Remnants of a high-capacity Mexican cartel lab were found in a shed in the back yard. Also found, below right, were several gallon cans of denatured alcohol from an old barbecue pit. The alcohol is used to break down pseudoephedrine pills used during the meth-making process. Below left, agents search a wooded area of the San Bernardino National Forest, six miles south of Running Springs, for a Mexican cartel meth lab. Art: PHOTOS Notes: See sidebars "Making Meth" and "Two states tackle lab cleanup problems" Subject: CRIME; NARCOTICS; HAZARDOUS WASTE; HOUSES Keys: SOURCE NATION; METH LABS; METHAMPHETAMINE Type: SERIES

For years, state and local officials have known that the dangers from drug labs don't end when the methamphetamine cooks are arrested and their ingredients hauled away for destruction. Left behind in Riverside kitchens, Moreno Valley hotel rooms, Fontana apartments and San Bernardino sheds are dangerous chemicals that can hurt the unsuspecting people who move in months later. Toxic vapors from the poisonous chemicals used to make the drug seep into pores of walls, ceilings and floors, where they are touched or inhaled by unsuspecting occupants and their children for years after the labs are gone. Despite the potential hazards, records show that poor coordination, lax oversight and a scarcity of state laws have allowed scores of people to move into former drug labs across the Inland region that may not have been properly cleaned up. Oregon and Washington, which have less serious drug-lab problems, have enacted stringent laws that require extensive cleanup of drug labs. California has virtually no laws. Oversight is instead left to the counties, where county officials say the few regulatory tools at their disposal lack the necessary teeth to compel property owners to perform the expensive and time-consuming cleanups. In some cases, drug agents in the Inland region don't call public health specialists to check out the dangers left behind. In others,

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 health experts decide not to see for themselves if a home is a health hazard, depending instead on what they are told over the phone by drug agents on the scene. Even when public health officials do go out, they rely on testing methods capable of pinpointing only some of the contamination. Most of the time, officials in Riverside and San Bernardino counties simply send a form letter out to homeowners telling them to clean up the property. After that, records show, there is little follow-up. The letters are routinely mailed out months after the drug lab has been shut down. Sometimes they are addressed to the people charged with making the drug, suspects unlikely to be concerned about cleaning up the mess they've left behind. Of about 280 cases in the last two years reviewed by The Press -Enterprise , county public health files show that officials in the two counties made personal visits and conducted visual inspections at just eight homes. In the remaining cases, no follow-up was conducted to ensure the contaminants were removed. That means hundreds of property owners each year may be ignoring county directives to hire special companies to inspect the homes to ensure no dangerous chemicals are left behind. "We're not protecting the public health," said Frances Passarelli, who heads HAZPAK Inc. in Fontana, a hazardous waste company certified to clean up drug labs in the Inland area. "Most of the time, the property owner paints over the wall and cleans the carpet, and the next unsuspecting individual moves in." Inland county health experts are stymied by the large number of drug labs and a lack of efficient tools to punish negligent property owners, said Vince Sternjacob, a supervisor in Riverside County's Hazardous Materials Division who has helped clean up hundreds of labs. "We know that happens, absolutely," Sternjacob said of the slipshod soap-and-water cleanup methods. "We're very concerned about that. "If it's going to be $3,000 to $5,000 to clean up and if the property owners think that they can just paint over this stuff and get away with it, then they're going to do it." Studies have shown that those steps are not enough to ensure that chemical dangers are eliminated. Health officials in both counties say their ability to do their jobs has been hampered by several problems: law enforcement agencies that don't give them a call; vague laws that give them little power; and a lack of money. * * * Couple worries about bumps That's a concern for Manuel Trevino and Diana Doty, who said they moved into a house on a dusty two-and-a-half-acre Glen Avon lot in the fall of 1998 without being told that the place had been used to make methamphetamine . On June 30, 1998, state and county agents made a bust at the home. In his report, the county health expert called to the scene said he put on the second-highest level of protection, which usually includes a heavy moon suit and 30-minute air tank. The specialist found all the normal ingredients to make speed - red phosphorus, iodine, ephedrine and flammable liquids. In the

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 house, he discovered red-phosphorus stains and high levels of acid in the kitchen and living room. A shed behind the home was severely tainted with similar chemicals. While walking around the property, he saw that the drug cookers had dumped chemicals behind the house and in one corner of the fenced yard. The chemicals were hauled away by the drug team. The contaminated home, shed and yard were left for the property owner to clean up. About two weeks after the bust, the state attorney general's office mailed a form letter to the property owner telling her about the raid and that "there may still be significant chemical contamination at the property." In late September, nearly three months after the raid, the county sent its own form letter. What the property owner - who died last year - did to clean up the home is unclear. Abraham Ali, the property manager who rents the house to Trevino and Doty, said the state and county offered little help or direction. "They didn't really give us a lot of detail about what was in there and what needs to be done," he said. Trevino and Doty weren't too concerned about the drug lab when they heard about it from neighbors after they moved in. The 62-year-old retired boiler mechanic and 38-year-old waitress assumed they wouldn't have been allowed to move in if there was still a problem. Doty spent her time digging in the yard, putting in cacti, yucca, marigolds and other plants that soon died. Ever since she moved in, Doty said, she has felt unusually tired, often had an upset stomach and been sick more often than ever in her life. Then, in the fall of 1999, the two woke up with strange red bumps and penny-sized rashes scattered across their bodies. Trevino went to a doctor, who thought they might be insect bites. So the couple hired an exterminator. The couple also stopped tilling the dirt in the yard. The rashes, however, come and go, and Doty's body now bears the scars from the bumps. A few weeks later, they learned about the extensive contamination from the drug lab when a Press -Enterprise reporter showed them a copy of the county environmental report. The report left them wondering if their health problems might be caused by chemicals left behind after the drug raid. While their doctor did not directly link the rashes to contaminants in their home, meth chemicals are known to cause skin irritations and hives. "You would think that they would have followed up on this," Trevino said. "It's jeopardizing everybody that lives on the property." * * * A serious health threat What dangers remain behind in former drug labs for unsuspecting individuals like Trevino and Doty are unclear. Experts know that the chemicals used to make methamphetamine - acids, iodine, phosphorus - can be dangers to people "cooking" the drug. They know red phosphorus is highly flammable, iodine is toxic, ephedrine can raise blood pressure and acids can burn. Many of the chemicals can irritate the skin.

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 But how long the dangers linger after a drug lab has been shut down - and whether they could have caused health problems for Trevino and Doty - is unclear. No one has taken an in-depth look at what harm the chemicals can do to people who move into a home previously used as a drug lab, say health experts on the West Coast. But California has raised some warning flags. In 1993, the state warned that contamination in former drug labs could pose "a serious health threat. . . . (and) may cause chronic health problems in unsuspecting future occupants." The study by the state Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Toxic Substances Control found what it called a coordination gap between law enforcement and public-health officers that created "a fragmented and inefficient" cleanup strategy. Public-health officials expressed frustrations in the study. Seven years later, local health experts say little has changed. "How long do you go on beating your head against a wall telling people that there are homes out there that have not been cleaned up and people are already at risk?" Sternjacob asked. By law, drug agents are supposed to let local health officials know within 24 hours anytime they close down a hazardous lab or dump. If the problem is merely a few ephedrine tablets or a can or two of camping fuel, agents don't have to call out county health officials. Ideally, Sternjacob said, he'd like his staff to be notified of all but the most benign labs within hours of their discovery. Although drug agents are trained to size up the health hazards, that's not their main mission, Sternjacob said. The officers, he said, are focused on "catching the bad guy," not making sure the home is cleaned up. That's why he wants his people on the scene. Sternjacob and Brian Otter, an environmental specialist in the San Bernardino County Hazardous Materials Division, said they have been frustrated by law-enforcement agencies that fail to call them out to drug labs and instead send them vague letters long after the officers have left the scene. * * * Coordination gap hurts cleanup According to records and interviews, some law-enforcement agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties often wait weeks before they send off a one-paragraph form letter to health officials, telling them only that they have closed down a drug lab at a particular address. Most of the late notices are being sent by Riverside County's drug team: ARCNET, a coalition of seven agencies including the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, Riverside County Sheriff's Department and Hemet Police Department. In about one-third of the 112 Riverside County files reviewed by The Press -Enterprise , the health department received letters from the Allied Riverside Cities Narcotic Enforcement Team days, and sometimes weeks, after the drug team had shut down a methamphetamine lab. ARCNET members at a meth lab bust should call health officials, who then could determine whether to go directly to the site, Sternjacob said. Being present at drug labs immediately after raids provides public health officials with critical details. Facts such

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 as where in a home the drug lab was found and how long the suspects had been cooking are crucial to helping hazardous-materials personnel assess the dangers, he said. Experts evaluate the cleanliness of a lab, discoloration of walls, floors and ceilings and chemical residue in bathroom and kitchen plumbing in determining the level of cleanup required. Tony Ybarra, head of ARCNET, said the task force calls out public-health officials in the worst cases - those where the chemicals are in danger of exploding or where the hazard from toxic or corrosive materials is great. "We call them; many times they don't come out," he said. "Many times, if we've got a (illegal drug lab) dump or something out in Aguanga or Anza, they're just not coming. That's the reality of it." Sternjacob and Otter said time and money prevent them from sending staff out to every drug lab and dump. Sometimes the lab will amount to nothing more than a box of chemicals in a closet or the trunk of a car. In those cases, they said, there's no need to take what could be hours of overtime to check out something officers on the scene have said isn't a problem. After being asked by The Press -Enterprise about the lack of coordination between the county and ARCNET, Sternjacob met with Ybarra in November to talk about the problems and said the two agreed to "bring down some of the barriers." In an interview, Ybarra conceded that ARCNET letters were going out too late and said he would check on the problem. Because people such as Otter and Sternjacob also complained to the state about poor coordination, the California Legislature got involved in 1998. On almost every drug lab, counties ask the state for money to clean up the mess. Drug agents call from the crime scene and get the OK to hire a contractor to haul away the chemicals. Except in cases of massive contamination, however, county public health officials are not called, Sternjacob said, creating a gap in the agency's ability to ensure that dwellings are properly cleaned up before unsuspecting renters or new owners move into the house. Under the new law, county hazardous materials units can sign up to be notified by the state whenever local drug agents request money. So far, however, only five counties - including San Bernardino, but not Riverside - have asked the state to give them a ring. * * * "Rip and remove" Even when they do go out to drug labs, specialists in both counties rely on a process that has had limited success in pinpointing problems. A 1993 state study found that chemicals used to make speed can easily seep into walls and floors, where they escape detection. Of even more concern, the report found that basic soap-and-water cleaning did more to draw the dangerous chemicals out from the walls than it did to wash them away. The best way to make a home safe again was to take out anything the drugs could seep into, such as walls, countertops and all kinds of wood and carpet, the study authors said. That's the approach adopted by San Diego County. Because it can often cost thousands of dollars to clean up a drug

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 lab, and because the cleaning process can miss deep-rooted chemicals, San Diego County encourages property owners to tear out and remove severely contaminated walls, floors and carpets. The property owners must pay for the cleanup. Mike Handman helped put together the state report. With 20 years' experience cleaning up drug labs, Handman supervises San Diego County's hazardous materials unit in the Department of Environmental Health. From his perspective, the only way to make sure that a home used to cook methamphetamine is free from hazards is to "rip and remove": Take out anything where there are signs of contamination. Because there are no studies on the possible problems faced by people who move into homes that haven't been completely cleaned, the best approach is to be cautious, Handman said. "You've got to be as conservative as possible to be safe," he said. The rip-and-remove approach is suggested to most owners for contaminated walls, ceiling panels and carpeting, Handman said. "Especially if it's a rental . . . You don't want 3-year-old kids crawling all over it," he said. In San Diego County, records of cleanup recommendations can serve as ammunition against negligent landlords if tenants later become sick or injured and file suit, Handman said. Riverside and San Bernardino counties have different approaches to cleanup. In many cases, records show, both counties do little more than send a letter to the property owner - who is sometimes the person sitting in jail charged with making the drug. When a home shows signs of widespread contamination, San Bernardino County health officials sometimes add information to the property's title about the hazards. Although that doesn't prevent the owner from selling the property, it can make it more difficult. (Riverside County has tried to "flag" former meth lab sites on their property titles but has not come up with an efficient method of doing it, Sternjacob said.) In the past year, San Bernardino County's social services agency also has been asking the Hazardous Materials Division to make sure homes are cleaned before they agree to let children who had lived there return. But San Bernardino County rarely relies on those tools. Last year, the county used either option fewer than 20 times, Otter said. County environmental specialists are more likely to work with owners and make sure that they have properly cleaned up their properties. In the first six months of 1999, records show, San Bernardino County hazardous-materials staff certified that eight homes out of about 175 cases were properly cleaned up. Riverside County essentially leaves the responsibility to the property owner. Sternjacob said his department is willing to meet with property owners and help them figure out what they need to do to clean up the home and land. But the form letter property owners receive never mentions that. Instead, the letter tells them that the place must be cleaned up by a certified hazardous-waste company and that the county can give them a list of such contractors. Riverside County officials say the letters are intended only to

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 notify property owners that a lab was found. The letters give property owners a telephone number to call for details about their case and for references to contractors capable of handling the cleanup, Sternjacob said. But beyond that, records show, the county does almost nothing. Out of 112 case files in Riverside County during the last two years reviewed by The Press -Enterprise , there was no evidence that any of the homes had been properly cleaned up or that county officials checked on the property after sending out the letters. In some cases, Riverside County sent bills to the property owners for the costs of the hazardous-materials team response. But, Sternjacob said, the law has no teeth to force a property owner to pay. That property owners don't reimburse the county or hire their own cleanup specialists is no surprise. Hiring a hazardous-waste company to do the work can cost thousands of dollars. In comparison, slapping on a coat of paint and steam-cleaning the rugs can cost a couple of hundred dollars. Local environmental experts say their jobs would be aided by stronger state laws that give them more power to make sure drug labs are properly cleaned up. Statewide regulations would create a consistent process with scientifically set standards for acceptable chemical levels. Currently, for instance, counties decide for themselves how much residual iodine is too much. Many counties lack the resources and expertise to perform the necessary research, environmental health officials say. "We need state law," Handman said. "It needs to be done at the state level, but it's never come to pass." Karl Palmer, head of the emergency response unit in the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, said the state is making sure the most serious dangers are removed by paying counties to haul away the chemicals and cooking equipment. "I think we're doing a good job," said Palmer. "We're doing the best we can. We don't know what the chronic threats are. What we do know is that if we don't do the gross removal, that there is no question about the threats." Palmer said he is working with experts from around the state to try to develop guidelines to make sure that all counties have some direction. "There are no standards for what is clean, and it has kind of fallen through the cracks," said Mark Miller, co-chairman of the Environmental Health Committee for the Northern California Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "We should be doing more to protect future inhabitants, neighbors and communities," he said. * * * Meth lab dumps found in the Inland Empire Riverside County San Bernardino County 96/97 41 35 97/98 45 27 98/99 37 57 Source: State of California, Department of Toxic Substances Control The Press -Enterprise * * *

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018 Lots of waste for a little product Manufacturing a pound of meth: leaves six gallons of toxic waste behind Meth makers often pour leftover chemicals and byproducts down drains, into storm drains or onto the ground, where they can contaminate the groundwater supply and soil. Toxic byproducts and chlorinated solvents can remain in the soil and groundwater for years. Cleanup costs are exorbitant, because contaminated soil usually must be dug up and incinerated. * * * High price of fighting methamphetamine High-capacity Mexican cartel lab * Two Hazardous Materials Team members from San Bernardino County Fire Department for 18 hours at a team response cost of $210/hour $7,560 * Four sheriffs investigators for 50 hours of investigation at $32/hour $6,400 * Six sheriffs investigators for 11 hours at crime scene at $32/hour $2,112 * Two sheriffs investigators for 6 hours of report writing at $32/hour $384 * Two criminalists for 11 hours at crime scene, 3 hours for report at $32/hour $896 * Toxic cleanup by private chemical handling firm $20,000 Total* $37,352 *Actual costs of investigating and dismantling methamphetamine laboratories vary widely depending on length of investigation, size of lab and extent of toxic contamination. * * * Low-capacity residential mom and pop lab * Hazardous Materials Team member from San Bernardino County Fire Department for 2 hours at a team response cost of $210/hour $420 * Two sheriffs investigators for 2 hours of investigation, 3 hours at crime scene, 2 hours for report writing at $32/hour $448 * Two criminalists for 3 hours at crime scene, an hour for report writing at $32/hour $256 * Toxic cleanup by private chemical handling firm $1,000 Total* $2,124 NOTE: $32 per hour denotes an average of regular and overtime compensation.

Eric Vilchis 4/3/2018