Oregon Gun Club Fined $17k for Dumping Lead Bullets in Groun

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Quigley_Sharps, Oct 23, 2006.


  1. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    A shooting club in Oregon illegally dumped lead on its property to the tune of $17,000 in fines. But apparently they don’t want to pay up.
    A local gun club faces more than $17,000 in fines for illegally dumping about 17 tons of lead-contaminated debris on its East Vilas Road property.
    The extent of contamination around Medford Rifle and Pistol Club remains unknown after the group removed sand piles containing bullet debris, said Jeff Bachman, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The club exhibited a “reckless lack of regard” for the threat to groundwater, wildlife and other environmental elements, DEQ officials said.
    The two samples analyzed by DEQ indicated concentrations of lead at 1,240 parts per million and 33.8 parts per million. Waste containing five or more parts per million is considered toxic and hazardous, the agency reported.
    “That’s pretty hot waste,” Bachman said, adding that DEQ had too little information Monday to assess the harm.
    Inspectors, however, found no evidence of impact to groundwater, Bachman said.
    The club intends to oppose the fine and won’t pay the state until its appeals process has been exhausted, said President Jim Rice. But members will work with DEQ, he said, on any further cleanup around their facility at 1253 E. Vilas Rd.
    Sand from bullet traps in the club’s indoor shooting gallery was dumped on the ground behind the club in September, inspectors said. Club members removed large pieces of lead that could be recast as new bullets, but the remaining, small fragments contained hazardous levels of “leachable lead” that could harm the environment.
    The article also says that the club members paid a consultant to calculate how much it would take to properly bury the sand, but it turned out the costs were too much. Which means they knowningly illegally dumped the lead into the ground.
    There’s no word in the article about the DEQ shutting them down, but we assume that if they choose not to pay the fine, that’s a possibility. And it would be fine by us– Al Capone was brought down by tax laws, and so if a shooting club has to be brought down by environmental laws, the community will be better off for it both ways.
     
  2. TnAndy

    TnAndy Senior Member Founding Member

    I suppose the fact that things like lead, asbestos, arsenic, etc, are naturally occuring minerals in the ground probably won't enter this discussion, huh ?
     
  3. Infidel

    Infidel Guest

    Andy, so is uranium and plutonium are naturally occuring, but I do not want them in my backyard. Or in my neighbours
     
  4. ColtCarbine

    ColtCarbine Monkey+++ Founding Member

    IIRC, those that mine our ground for lead don't charge for their services. I'll have to check on that for sure, if that is correct they could have avoided this.
     
  5. ColtCarbine

    ColtCarbine Monkey+++ Founding Member

    Here's some in your backyard.
    DCPPpan1.
     
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