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Anoka County Multi- Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan damage. Ramsey also experienced a Natural Gas Explosion on December 28, 2004. The explosion resulted in three fatalities; complete loss of one structure and damage to an adjacent structure. Vehicle and railroad traffic was impacted. The likelihood of future occurrence is expected to be moderate and each impact moderate. Anoka County has a strong, pro- active Local Emergency Planning Committee. Working in conjunction with emergency management, this organization actively solicits membership and tracks TIER II reporting requirements. There are approximately 100 facilities within Anoka County that manufacture, store, or utilize legal quantities of hazardous materials in some capacity. An incident at one of these facilities could be expected to affect as much as 10% of the county's population. Anoka County and its municipalities have experienced 453 reported hazardous materials spills or releases since 1985. These incidents have resulted in three fatalities and one injury. Only $220,000 in structure damage and $54,780 content damage has been reported. Most of the incidents have been minor, and to this date, the most significant cost has been clean up, which is not reported. Many municipalities are in close proximity to a highway, a rail line, or both. These transportation corridors place Anoka County and its municipalities at an equal risk for hazardous materials transportation incidents. The probability for a major event in the future is high for all the southern areas of the county. A detailed list of Hazardous Materials spills or releases can be found in Appendix A 4.3.2.6 Illegal Methamphetamine Labs Illegal domestic labs that produce methamphetamine (meth) are dependent on supplies of the precursor ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Sometimes it is smuggled in quantity from Canada and Mexico, but may be readily purchased over - the - counter in the form of the decongestant Sudafed and other pseudoephadrine - containing cold tablets. Depending on the method used, meth is "cooked" using the cold medicine and other easily obtained items such as coffee filters, lye, battery acid, matchbook striker plates, iodine, lithium batteries, and Coleman fuel. The process of cooking meth leaves behind a hazardous coating on walls, floors, and in ventilation systems. State law requires meth - contaminated property be quarantined until clean up operations have been completed and the property tested by a certified contractor as safe for habitation. Cost for cleaning and certifying a 1,200 square foot house is about $9,000. In hotels, rooms adjacent, above, and below must also be certified as safe. Drug Enforcement Agency officials estimate that for each pound of meth produced, a lab operator winds up with 6 pounds of toxic waste, including leftover chemicals such as anhydrous ammonia, lye and solid meth residue. The meth threat in Minnesota is a two- pronged problem. First, large quantities of meth produced by Mexican organizations based in California are transported into and distributed throughout the state. Second, meth increasingly is being produced in small laboratories, capable of producing only a few ounces at a time. Mexican groups, who receive their product from the West Coast, 114