Beginning this fall, financial assistance will be available to help Illinois fertilizer dealers safeguard their products from theft for the manufacture of illegal methamphetamines, according to an announcement by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He said a $1.6 million initiative will provide grants to facilities to purchase locks for anhydrous ammonia tanks, video surveillance cameras, or approved additives to discourage meth thieves. He said the grants will not only help agriculture dealers, but entire communities at risk from “the dangers associated with meth, which go well beyond the user.” He commended legislators, the fertilizer and chemical industry, law enforcement, and others for working together to develop this program, which will be one more tool for the state to use in fighting illegal meth.
“The theft of anhydrous ammonia has affected nearly every fertilizer dealer in the state, many of whom have suffered losses in the thousands of dollars due to damage to their equipment and facilities, and had to expend extra effort to mitigate the possibility of ammonia releases due to theft and clean up meth lab waste left at their facilities,” said Jean Payne, president of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Assn. (IFCA). Payne added that the funds will allow ammonia dealers to improve protection of their facilities and ensure they can continue to safely provide this important nitrogen fertilizer to Illinois farmers.
The Department of Agriculture, which will administer the program, plans to award grants of up to two-thirds of the cost of security improvements in both the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007, to coincide with the seasonal application of anhydrous fertilizer. Initially, 21 counties in west central Illinois, where meth was first discovered in the state, will be targeted: Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Jersey, Macoupin, Mason, McDonough, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, and Warren. Projects from throughout the state will be considered in the spring.
Payne said IFCA will be joining the state police and the attorney general’s office in a series of five outreach meetings to explain the program and application process to anhydrous facilities and raise awareness about the dangers of methamphetamine.
Applications for this fall are due Oct. 2; spring applications are due Feb. 1. Forms may be obtained by calling the products inspection bureau at 217 782-3817, or on the agency’s website at www.agr.state.il.us.