Communities Take Aim at Shooting Range Contamination

By: Duane Craig
 

People who live near the Little Rock Air Force Base can breathe easier knowing lead contamination there has been mitigated, according to this article in the Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System.


The project involved cleaning 15 acres of lead contamination left over from decades of shooting range use. After clearing 18,000 tons of contaminated soil, workers planted 3,000 trees on the newly mulched land. The shooting range operated during the 1960s and 1970s, leaving behind what was described as "extreme levels of lead."

Shooting ranges targeted for causing contamination

Shooting range contamination is being more widely recognized and addressed, and perhaps not surprisingly, the indoor ranges get a fair amount of scrutiny. In one case, reported in a Houston Chronicle article, a shooting range in the basement of a middle school was closed down in Sheboygan, Wis. The fact the range was inside a school was unusual, and even though the shooting club adopted procedures to make sure lead was reduced in the ambient air, that wasn't enough to keep the range open at that location.

In a case near Chambersburg, Pa., a shooting range adjacent to the city's water supply was closed in part because of contamination concerns, but it is being considered for reopening if the appropriate management practices can be put into place, according to a report in Public Opinion.

Other Pollution, Distrust of Government Cloud GA Water Issue

August 15, 2010 - The Feagin Road area where a groundwater cleanup is under way is within the "encroachment zone" for Robins Air Force Base. Bibb County and other governments are interested in buying up residential properties there and moving people out of the noisy area to try to protect the base and its options for future missions.

The process has been contentious, and many neighbors say they distrust local government officials. Those suspicions lead residents such as Dave Hutchinson to be suspicious of any government warnings about the water.

Hutchinson, who lives on Kearnes Drive, said the Macon Water Authority extended water lines to the area about 15 years ago as a result of water contamination concerns.

Frank Amerson, chairman of the Macon Water Authority, remembers that the authority received a grant to pay for the water line extension because of the pollution.

Neighbors remember a variety of stories about the nature and source of the pollution cited at that time, but it seems to have been unrelated to the pipeline.

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