Twice in a week, highly explosive drug waste was dumped on and near Calaveras High School. The illegal dumping is not only a danger, but also expensive to clean up.
Forty-four canisters of butane were scattered near the lower parking lot of Calaveras High School in San Andreas.
A few days later, sheriff’s deputies and the county’s Environmental Health Department removed nine 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste and 1,000 cans of butane from a site near the school.
Calaveras County Environmental Health Inspector Lisa Medina says many of the butane cans were still partially full.
“Butane cans can be a risk because butane is heavier than air, and if it’s around an ignitable source it can cause an explosion,” says Medina.
She also says commercial pot farms are plentiful in the county, and some are using the butane to make illegal hash oil from the marijuana.
She says the illegal dumping is becoming more and more common.
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