Green Party of PEI

 


Green party calls for investigation of shooting ranges as Contaminated Sites 


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.   

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.ht

 


 

Letter to the Editor

The Guardian (Prince Edward Island)

Tuesday December 22, 2009

Page A7

Editor:

Imagine Environment Minister Richard Brown sitting at his desk with two piles of paper in front of him. One pile is the Ontario legislation banning 85 pesticide active ingredients for use on lawns and gardens. The other pile is the New Brunswick legislation banning just one pesticide. What to do, he wonders.

By then, Minister Brown has already received a petition from 4,200 Islanders asking for a ban on cosmetic pesticides. And public hearings held by his government resulted in more than 150 presentations from individuals and organizations representing thousands of Islanders demanding a ban.

Well, we all know what Minister Brown decided to do. Instead of opting to copy Ontario's legislation or do even better, he completely betrayed Islanders. He copied New Brunswick's legislation. Why would he do this? Why would he not follow Ontario's example and protect children, pets, wildlife, groundwater and waterways from these dangerous poisons?
 

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Wednesday Augus 6, 2008

Published in the Eastern Graphic and the West Prince Graphic

THE VIEW FROM HERE...

by Jack MacAndrew

" We swam in it, we boated on it , we dug clams and we ate the clams. I wouldn't dare eat a clam out of it now . "....

Eleanor Cooke , talking about the Wheatley River.

Nor , Ms. Cooke , are you likely to find a living clam to steam.

One of the more surprising aspects of all the headlines about anoxic rivers, estuaries and bays recently appearing in the public prints , is that anyone should be at all surprised at what is happening .

On the other hand , not in the least surprising , is the extraordinarily lame response from the current Minister of the Environment , George Webster . As usual , Mr. Webster's Pavlovian response to queries about this smelly environmental mess , was to advise people not to blame farm runoff for the killing of the Island's waterways.

Sorry Georgie Boy - it just don't wash - so to speak.. As far back as a decade or more ago , and more recently in the current readings of Island groundwater , there is uncontrovertable truth to be faced. The fact is - when rivers , streams and brooks run through potato country , they end up loaded with nitrates: when they run through forested or fallow terrain , the readings are much lower , down where we should expect them to be . (more . . .)

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