{"id":50940,"date":"2020-10-15T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-targets-gun-range-contamination\/"},"modified":"2020-10-15T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T11:00:00","slug":"la-plata-county-targets-gun-range-contamination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/la-plata-county-targets-gun-range-contamination\/","title":{"rendered":"La Plata County targets gun range contamination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"La
La Plata County is considering a multimillion dollar cleanup effort to remove lead contamination at the Durango Gun Club outdoor range off La Posta Road (County Road 213) south of Durango.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lead contamination issues at the Durango Gun Club have sparked what will likely be a multimillion dollar cleanup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that levels of lead in the soil may exceed applicable standards,\u201d said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County.<\/p>\n

In 1942, La Plata County acquired a 295-acre parcel that used to be a mine, which was then turned into a landfill used by the city of Durango for years.<\/p>\n

In 1979, a part of the property was leased to the Durango Gun Club for an outdoor shooting range, located on La Posta Road (County Road 213), just south of the high bridge on U.S. Highway 160\/550.<\/p>\n

Now, the range is used for training by a number of law enforcement agencies, such as the La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Durango Police Department, Fort Lewis College Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n

Over the years at the shooting range, there has been a significant buildup of lead, which bullets are usually made of. Lead is often a byproduct in the primer, too.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Durango Gun Club outdoor range is used by the club&#x2019;s 1,000 members as well as numerous law enforcement agencies. Here, the club hosts &#x201c;Sight-In Days&#x201d; in 2017 for hunters. The gun club began leasing the site in 1979.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A couple years ago, the Durango Gun Club started collecting fees from its estimated 1,000 members in anticipation of the need for a future cleanup to address lead contamination, said John Malarsie, club president.<\/p>\n

Malarsie said lead contamination is a known issue among the shooting community, with warnings on ammunition boxes and other equipment. The gun club even put up flyers around the range to take extra precautions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooting community is aware of it,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything you see and use has a warning on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its proposed 2021 budget, La Plata County has set aside $2.5 million to start a remediation project at the site. The intent, county officials say, is to bring in other funding from groups that use the range.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been in discussions with the Durango Gun Club for a few years on this issue,\u201d said La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith. \u201cThis budget request \u2026 is meant to help us reduce that risk because it\u2019s been out there for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Western competition shooting area at the Durango Gun Club outdoor range off La Posta Road (County Road 213) south of Durango. A project to mitigate lead contamination in the range&#x2019;s soils is in its early stages.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

While the cost or scope of the project isn\u2019t fully settled, the plan would be to physically remove soils containing lead and other contaminates, Graham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if the site continues as a gun range, everyone who uses it will need to develop and implement a best-practices plan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lead contamination issues at gun ranges are an issue across the country.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Filippelli, a professor at Indiana University, undertook a study in 2017 with fellow colleagues that looked at more than 30 scientific reviews on the health impacts from lead exposure to people at outdoor gun ranges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s deadly serious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When contaminated soils dry out, lead can be picked up when the wind blows and then breathed in by people. And even more dangerous is when people shoot and breathe in primer that contains lead.<\/p>\n

\"A
A drainage trench was built to carry water away from one of the shooting areas at the Durango Gun Club outdoor range off La Posta Road (County Road 213). A project to mitigate lead contamination in the range&#x2019;s soil could also include a catch basin to collect runoff.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lead poisoning can damage a person\u2019s memory and cause issues with concentration, Filippelli said. It can also lead to depression and aggressive behavior, he said.<\/p>\n

As a result, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has set limits for airborne exposure to lead, and recommends anyone who spends a lot of time at gun ranges to practice good hygiene, wear gloves and eye protection, and to look out for symptoms.<\/p>\n

Filippelli said shooters can also try to use nonlead alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t follow proper gun range protocol \u2026 then you expose yourself to lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And, lead contamination can have an environmental impact if soils run off into local waterways. Smith said there are monitors on the Animas River, which is adjacent to the gun range, to look for any potential spikes of lead.<\/p>\n

\"In
In its proposed 2021 budget, La Plata County has set aside $2.5 million to start a lead remediation project at the Durango Gun Club outdoor range off of La Posta Road (County Road 213).<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Malarsie said the mitigation project at the gun club is still in its early planning stages, but could also include small reservoirs and catch basin to capture runoff.<\/p>\n

At some bigger gun ranges, Malarsie said soils are processed to separate the lead to be reused in bullets, with the soil then put back on-site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d just like to participate with some manpower \u2026 and some money to get in the program with them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The mitigation project at the gun range is not set in stone, however. County commissioners are reviewing the proposed budget and are set to formally vote on the matter in November.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2021 budget proposes $2.5 million to remove lead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1065,1030,174,222,13,28,1512,1745,1901,445,668],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-police-department","tag-environment","tag-environmental-cleanup","tag-environmental-pollution","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-la-plata-county-government","tag-la-plata-county-officials","tag-la-plata-county-sheriff","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50940"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}