[CPEO-MEF] Great Lakes Ordnance

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

[The statement excerpted and linked below is 11 months old. The Coast 
Guard proposal it criticized has been abandoned, at least for now. But 
the unexploded ordnance and other military wastes that it describes 
remain under water in the Great Lakes, with no mandate for the Defense 
Department or any other agency to determine whether they should be 
removed. - LS]

ESTABLISHING PERMANENT LIVE FIRE SAFETY ZONES ON THE GREAT LAKES:
SAFE FOR WHOM?

By James Barton jamesbarton@uwuxo.com
October 13, 2006

The US Coast Guard is attempting to create permanent live fire "safety" 
zones in the Great Lakes so the various USCG Stations around the Lakes 
can conduct small arms training for boat crews. A treaty with Canada 
dating back to 1812 has been “massaged” to permit this activity. There 
are 34 different zones proposed, encompassing a total of 2300 square miles.

Over 200 public comments have been made (http://dms.dot.gov/ Docket ID 
USCG 2006-25767) outlining residents and business owner’s support for 
the need to train, and concern for both safety, commerce, and the 
addition of lead bullets to an ecosystem where lead split-shot fishing 
tackle, and lead bird shot is outlawed. The USCG counters they will use 
"jacketed" ammo, thereby reducing the amount of lead introduced to the 
lakes. Also, there is concern noted by others about some of the 
"unusual" locations proposed for this activity.

These are important issues to be weighed against the international 
threats we face today, but it is a threat looming from our past which 
concerns me, and how the establishment of “permanent” live fire safety 
zones is expected to diminish our ability to deal with, or to even fully 
understand the extent of the problem.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/GreatLakesLiveFireZones.doc

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


_______________________________________________
Military mailing list
Military@list.cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org/mailman/listinfo/military