Millvale - The Green Party of PEI has requested the provincial government test all former and existing outdoor shooting ranges for lead contamination, to add those contaminated properties to the Contaminated Sites Registry and make those responsible pay for damages and remediation.
"The Big Boot shooting range in South Granville opened without a development permit and an environmental impact assessment which led us to examine provincial legislation and the impacts gun ranges have on the environment and human health," said Green party leader Sharon Labchuk. "What we've found is alarming. Shooting ranges are essentially hazardous waste sites. Citizens oppose gun ranges everywhere and many have been shut down because of lead contamination, noise and stray bullets.
The BC Ministry of Environment recently ordered a shooting range to conduct a contaminated-site investigation and deal with existing lead contamination because of groundwater pollution fears. According to the US government, outdoor shooting ranges put more lead into the environment than any other major industrial sector.
"Dr Corinne Rooney, author of Contamination at Shooting Ranges, says it is the norm that gun ranges world-wide are contaminated with soil lead levels exceeding 33 times the allowable limit," said Labchuk. "Other toxic metals are present as well and when the shot or bullets degrade, the lead and other metals become mobile and can move through the soil into the groundwater. The only way to prevent lead and other heavy metal contamination is to keep bullets from contacting soil in the first place. The Big Boot shooting range fires directly into soil berms."
Lead is known as one of the most deadly toxins on the planet and is especially dangerous to unborn and young children causing permanent brain damage, among other things. Countries have made progress to get lead out of the environment by banning it from products like gasoline and some paints. No level of exposure is considered safe and it's listed as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
"An outdoor shooting range closed down in Caledonia last year and I've heard there was one in Hartsville. Government apparently has no registry of old shooting ranges," said Labchuk. "People have a right to know if their drinking water is threatened. These sites should be fenced to keep people out and nearby residents alerted to test their drinking water. The threat to water, if the sites aren't cleaned up, can continue for hundreds of years. Any risk of lead-contaminated soil blowing around on the wind should be dealt with immediately."
Labchuk said shooting ranges are not even on the radar screen of the Department of Environment. Her party will be pushing for legislation to restrict the ability of gun ranges to pollute the environment and threaten public health.
More information:
Contamination at Shooting Ranges, Dr. Corrine Rooneywww.lead.org.au/fs/shootingranges.pdf
Poisonous Pastime, Environmental Working Groupshttp://www.ewg.org/reports/poisonouspastime
Langley gun club ordered to check property for lead contamination, The Provincehttp://www.theprovince.com/news/Langley+club+ordered+check+property+lead+contamination/3237496/story.html
