CARUTHERS -- Nestled amid a nondescript vineyard somewhere between Fresno and Lemoore, a rundown country house -- honeycombed with spider webs -- sits dead empty for visitors.

Every corner of the house is plastered with health warning signs to stay out.

Behind this former methamphetamine lab, Arturo Lara -- part of a team cleaning up the site -- leans on his shovel and pointed at a giant hole around a septic tank that gave off a foul stench.

"People who were cooking meth here were dumping all the chemicals in the bathroom. A septic tank, that's where they all end up," Lara said. "If they were flushing down flammables, they could have a bomb down here."

Some seven months ago, authorities had busted this so-called "user" lab, carting away pounds of poisons out of the house rented to meth addicts. But the work didn't end there.

In early June, Lara and his colleague Jeff Lassotovitch, both technicians from Parc Environmental of Fresno, were back there to do an extensive cleanup to bring it up to what the government says is a livable standard.

Inside the musty old house, only filth was left behind after the lab was seized in November.

Rotten food still sat on the stove. Broken plastic toys and dirty dolls clattered around the kids' room, where yellow stains on the wall indicated that children who lived there were heavily exposed to toxic acid fumes.

"Be careful not to touch anything," Lara says.

The interior of the house is covered with acid dust, which, if disturbed, could be breathed in and turn toxic in the body.

Outside, Lassotovitch, donning a Hazmat suit, continued his work on a backhoe, digging farther along the septic leach line. And Lara checks for any leaks in the line.

"If there's a break in the leach line, all the stuff will come out in the soil," Lassotovitch said. "What if you had little kids playing around the dirt? If it leaches out, it's also going to ruin the vineyard groves."

All septic tank contents must be first pumped out and then the system pressure-washed.

The house could well be gutted down to the bare studs in a few weeks, as walls, ceilings, floors and anything else that absorbed the chemicals gets ripped out.

Lara and Lassotovitch were operating under the guidelines of a new state law that requires cleanup and disclosure of meth labs.

Over the years, the firm has cleaned up hundreds of meth labs like this throughout the Valley, including those in Hanford.

Although much meth production has moved to Mexico, authorities say small toxic labs like this continue to be a problem in California. The San Joaquin Valley remains a mecca for meth producers.

Of 221 meth lab incidents in California last year, 164 were in the Valley, says Cmdr. Robert Pennal with Fresno Meth Task Force.

"We're still in the middle of it," Pennal said. "We're still the most active region in the state."

Just removing the immediate danger of the labs and dump sites has cost the state nearly $20 million over the course of the last six years, and that's been footed by California taxpayers.

Cleanup standards

Eighteen months ago, people in California had no way of knowing whether their homes were once used as meth labs, unless the sellers knew and disclosed the fact in the sales process.

Today, the new law not only makes it illegal to reside in a former meth lab that hasn't been fully decontaminated, but also requires the sellers to disclose the fact to the buyers and renters.

Two years ago, California Assemblyman Rick Keene, R-Chico, working with Assemblywoman Carol Liu, D-La Canada Flintridge, pioneered legislation that would create standards for clean up so that landlords knew what was expected of them to bring buildings back to code.

Other states are using the bill as a template to address similar problems.

"Our intent is that people are kept safe, and their financial investments are protected. We really wanted to address that," Keene said in a phone interview in April. "Meth is becoming an epidemic across the entire state. This is just one way to address the dramatic consequences of affected people's health and life investments."

Here is the story behind the bill:

A few years back, one family bought a house in Chico, and within a few weeks of moving in, they began experiencing severe breathing troubles and skin irritations. It turned out they had just moved into a former meth lab.

"There was no standard to ensure the safety for occupying those houses," Keene said. "So we found the best standard we could find in the nation and adapted it."

The story behind the Keene-Liu bill hits one of the strangest facts about meth labs.

Most people are familiar with the basic facts -- the smokable, sniffable, injectable, swallowable intensely addictive drugs made from common household products such as Sudafed, match strike plates, batteries, and drain cleaners that ruins lives of teenagers to middle-class housewives.

Every year, meth producers turn hundreds of homes toxic in California.

The problem is, meth labs can remain low-profile. Once the place is superficially cleaned up, the home may look fine yet remain toxic from residual chemicals absorbed in carpets and walls.

Neighbors that can kill

For every pound of meth, some four to six pounds of toxic wastes are produced, according to Pennal.

"That's one of the biggest problems we have," he said.

Meth labs' impact to the environment is costly.

In 2006, California spent more than $1 million just in removing meth-waste dumping sites and doing a superficial cleanup of labs, according to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

It doesn't include the cost to the landlords who are now required by law to bring properties up to standards by hiring a remediation firm like Parc Environmental.

"Clean-ups are expensive," said Brian Herrick, superintendent at the firm.

Various testing would cost between $4,000 and $7,000, followed by serious cleanup costs of the structure, which could reach $15,000. A septic tank cleanup could add another $10,000, Herrick said. Property owners are ultimately responsible for the cost of cleanups, he said.

The new law puts county health departments in charge of overseeing the remediation to ensure the rules are followed.

Kings County may not see many meth lab problems, but it surely does sit close to the problem.

This year alone saw some 20 meth lab dump sites in the Laton area. In 2004, a mid-scale meth lab exploded on the northeast outskirts of Hanford. Most recently, a small user lab was seized this April near the Hanford Municipal Airport.

When it's found, a meth lab always poses an immediate threat to health and environment.

"We as law enforcement officers are facing a lot of danger when we go in," said Cmdr. Eloy Romero with the Kings County Narcotics Task Force. "The manufacturing of meth is nothing to take lightly. A lot of chemicals are easily excitable. They are like a time bomb waiting to go off."

Dumping sites are just as dangerous.

One of the greatest cleanup hazards is pressurized cylinders and containers used to hold corrosive hydrogen chloride gas, disguised in propane bottles with a faucet nozzle, according to Pennal.

"Farmers sometimes find these items and accidentally release the chlorine gas and get hurt," Pennal said. "They should never touch any of these things."

The danger is enhanced in the summer.

Lab wastes in garbage bags, if it starts to get warm, would develop gas which could hurt or kill people.

In 2006, there was only one dumping site removal reported in Kings County, as opposed to 30 lab and dump site removals reported in Fresno County and 17 in Tulare County.

But the numbers can lie, says Romero.

"Just because the meth lab seizures aren't there, it doesn't mean meth labs aren't out there," he said. "Statistics can be misleading. The problem is definitely here."

The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3059.

(Sept. 27, 2007)