Lawrenceburg Now

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

$750,000 Appropriated To Meth Clean-Up

Legislators have appropriated funding to assist governments throughout the state with the recently-acquired burden of meth lab cleanup.

   In February leaders learned that monies for meth lab cleanup and disposal, allocated by the U.S. Congress, and dispersed through the Criminal Oriented Policing Services Office through COPS Grants, was running dry.

   The news came at a point in the fiscal year that proved detrimental to smaller governments. Local governments had no such funding included in their budgets, thus the cut off of that funding left these governments with more than four months until the end of the fiscal year, and no means of paying for the cleanups.

   On Tuesday leaders learned that state legislators had allocated some $750,000 in the state’s new budget to assist local governments with this burden.

The funds have been appropriated for dispersal through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in the form of grants.

Under the program local governments may apply for the funding, with the state government funding 75% of cleanup costs and the county covering the remaining 25%. The funds will be made available on a first come, first served basis.

   Lawrence County Sheriff Jimmy Brown said Tuesday, “The sheriff’s department will make every effort to utilize the grant to offset the rising costs of methamphetamine clean up.”

   Experts say that cleanup of meth labs is imperative since leftover materials are often explosive, and the toxins generated pose a grave hazard to the health of any who come into contact with them.

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