Advertisement
Walz, who represents southern Minnesota, is a co-author of legislation that would develop specific guidelines and practices for cleaning up meth labs.
The bill passed the House last week with overwhelming support — the vote was 426-2 — and is now moving through the Senate.
The bill would provide $5 million to two federal agencies over the next two years to develop voluntary clean-up guidelines. The guidelines would help local officials with the clean-up process by teaching them to identify levels of certain chemicals and know when a house is safe to live in again.
Under the legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency would meet with state officials, discuss practices, and then design a final list of best clean-up practices, which it would report to Congress. The EPA would then consult with a second federal agency, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to study the lasting effects of meth labs.
“This legislation is a necessary step toward improving the meth lab remediation process nationwide,” Walz said in a speech on the House floor last week. “… It will make local communities dealing with the methamphetamine problem cleaner and healthier.”
5 million? wrote on Feb 14, 2007 6:27 PM: