[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5589 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Orphan Meth Lab Cleanup Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Methamphetamine is not just a serious drug problem; 
        it's also a serious environmental problem.
            (2) On average, the manufacture of 1 pound of meth creates 
        5 pounds of toxic wastes. Some of the most toxic chemicals 
        involved in, or crated by, the manufacture of meth include 
        benzene (a major component of the banned substance DDT, and 
        which is highly flammable and poisonous), ether (highly 
        unstable and explosive), hydriodic acid (extremely corrosive, 
        causing third-degree burns upon contact with human flesh), and 
        red phosphorous (when heated during the meth-making process, 
        turns into phosphine gas, a nerve agent so potent that its use 
        is barred under the Chemical Weapons Convention).
            (3) Meth production poses a significant hazard to 
        wilderness areas. For large-scale drug manufacturing 
        facilities, meth producers commonly seek out sites in remote or 
        sparsely populated areas in order to avoid detection--often 
        desert, wilderness, or other land that has been deliberately 
        left alone because of ecological value.
            (4) Meth production poses a significant hazard to the 
        safety of the food supply. A considerable amount of meth 
        production takes place on fallow farm land or adjacent to 
        productive farm land, and runs the risk of causing 
        contamination of crops and agricultural products.
            (5) Meth production poses a significant public health 
        hazard. For smaller-scale ``mom and pop'' drug production 
        efforts, meth will often be produced in apartment buildings, 
        motel rooms, and other residential areas--putting at risk the 
        health of children, senior citizens, and other vulnerable 
        populations who might live or work nearby.
            (6) Cleanup of the environmental damage caused by meth labs 
        imposes direct costs on Federal taxpayers. A number of meth lab 
        sites have become so polluted that the Environmental Protection 
        Agency added them to the Superfund National Priorities List.
            (7) Cleanup of so-called ``orphan'' meth labs--that is, 
        those sites where the government can't identify or find the 
        persons who created the environmental damage--is proving an 
        especially significant burden on taxpayers. This year in 
        California alone, local taxpayers will spend $10,000,000 to 
        clean up the environmental damage caused by meth production at 
        nearly 1,800 sites.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to relieve taxpayers from the burdens 
associated with the cleanup and environmental restoration of ``orphan'' 
meth lab sites by imposing tough new monetary fines on meth 
manufacturers, distributors, and users.

SEC. 4. PENALTIES FOR METHAMPHETAMINE; ORPHAN METHAMPHETAMINE LAB 
              CLEANUP ACCOUNT.

    (a) Amendment of Toxic Substances Control Act.--(1) Section 15 of 
the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2601 and following) is 
amended by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (3), by striking the 
period at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting ``; or'' and by adding 
the following new paragraph at the end thereof:
            ``(5) manufacture, distribute, or dispense or possess with 
        intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense 50 grams or more 
        of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, or salts of its isomers 
        or 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a 
        detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers, or 
        salts of its isomers.''
    (2) Section 16 of such Act is amended by adding the following at 
the end thereof:
    ``(c) Penalties With Respect to Methamphetamine; Methamphetamine 
Lab Cleanup.--(1) Any penalty imposed with respect to methamphetamine 
under this Act shall be in addition to any civil or criminal penalty 
imposed with respect to methamphetamine under any other provision of 
law. All civil and criminal penalties imposed with respect to 
methamphetamine under this Act shall be deposited in a separate account 
in the Treasury (to be referred to as the `Orphan Meth Lab Cleanup 
Account').
    ``(2) All amounts deposited in the Orphan Meth Lab Cleanup Account 
are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator for the purpose 
of making grants to local governments to be used to reimburse local 
governments for all or a portion of the expenses incurred by such local 
governments for the remediation of facilities at which methamphetamine 
was manufactured or processed and for which no responsible party is 
available to provide such reimbursement. Any local government that has 
incurred an expense referred to in this paragraph may submit an 
application to the Administrator for reimbursement from the Orphan Meth 
Lab Cleanup Account. The Administrator shall make annual grants to 
local governments submitting reimbursement requests under this section 
for any fiscal year. The amount of grants received by a local 
government in any fiscal year may not exceed the greater of--
            ``(A) the costs incurred by such local government during 
        the immediately prior fiscal year for the remediation of 
        facilities at which methamphetamine was manufactured or 
        processed and for which no responsible party is available to 
        provide reimbursement; or
            ``(B) the percentage of the total amount available in the 
        account that is determined by dividing (i) the costs referred 
        to in subparagraph (A) by (ii) the costs incurred by all local 
        governments submitting reimbursement requests for costs 
        incurred during the immediately prior fiscal year for the 
        remediation of facilities at which methamphetamine was 
        manufactured or processed and for which no responsible party is 
        available to provide reimbursement.''.
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