[CPEO-MEF] ITRC Press Release

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

For Immediate Release

Contact: Roseanne Black, (540) 557-6101, roseanne_black@wpi.org


Characterization and remediation of lead-contaminated soils at closed
small arms firing ranges is focus of latest ITRC product

The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) has just
released a document to assist owners/operators, consultants, and
regulators in making decisions about the best ways to clean up soils
contaminated with lead and other contaminants from small-caliber
ammunition. Characterization and Remediation of Soils at Closed Small
Arms Firing Ranges (SMART-1) presents a logical and easy-to-follow
decision tree to assist in planning, evaluating, and approving lead soil
remediation systems. The document defines site parameters and
appropriate ranges of criteria necessary for characterizing, testing,
designing, and monitoring lead soil remediation technologies. Among the
issues explored by SMART-1 is the regulatory status of reusing soil from
the backstop of a closing range on other active ranges.

At some ranges, it may be possible and desirable to reuse the soil from
the backstop of a range that is being closed to construct a new berm or
rebuild an existing berm located in another area of the same property or
facility. It is the position of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
that ranges that reclaim and recycle lead bullets or lead shot may place
the soil that is generated during the reclamation process back onto an
active range on the same property or facility or a property adjacent to
and under the same ownership as the property where the soils originated
without testing the soil for hazardous waste characteristics.

In addition, the Small Arms Firing Range Team identified several
pathways for lead removal, direct disposal, and soil reuse. Depending
upon the characteristics of the site, there are technologies to
separate, stabilize, and extract lead. In many cases, these technologies
provide better solutions than simply disposing of soil as a hazardous or
solid waste. These pathways are depicted in the decision tree (Figure
1-1) in SMART-1.

The Small Arms Firing Range Team is one of 15 currently active ITRC
technical teams that are producing guidance documents and conducting
training on the deployment of innovative environmental technologies.
ITRC technical teams have produced more than 40 guidance documents, all
of which are available online at the ITRC Web site at www.itrcweb.org.
Click on “Guidance Documents” and then “Small Arms Firing Range” to
download ITRC’s newest product.

ITRC is a state-led group that works to overcome regulatory barriers to
the deployment of innovative environmental technologies. ITRC
participants come from the ranks of state regulatory agencies, federal
agencies concerned with environmental cleanup, environmental consulting
firms, and technology vendors. These diverse ITRC participants work
together in technical teams to develop documents and training to expand
the knowledge base among members of the environmental community and help
regulators develop a more consistent and streamlined approach for
regulating innovative technologies. ITRC products also help
environmental consultants improve the way innovative technologies are
deployed.

The ITRC Board of Directors is cochaired by Brian C. Griffin
(bcgriffin@cox.net), a senior program advisor with the Southern States
Energy Board, and G. Ken Taylor (taylorgk@dhec.state.sc.us), director of
the Hydrogeology Division of South Carolina’s Bureau of Land and Waste
Management. The leaders of the Small Arms Firing Range Team are Dib
Goswami (dgos461@ecy.wa.gov) of the Washington Department of Ecology and
Bob Mueller (bob.mueller@dep.state.nj.us) of the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection.


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