Lead Poison Protections
If committee action is any indication of what's going to happen during the Legislature's session opening next month, a bill to make shooting ranges immune from any regulation -- including environmental laws -- will sail to the governor's desk.
There are at least 400 ranges in Florida. Of those, the Department of Environmental Protection is working with nearly 30 to clean up large accumulations of lead. Range operators have been understanding about the dangers of lead and arsenic leaching out of the bullets and into groundwater, and have cooperated with state health officials. One -- the Skyway Trap and Skeet Club in St. Petersburg -- has a court date with the
state.
Over the years, the Florida DEP estimates, from 14 million to 26 million pounds of lead have accumulated in the soil and water. The DEP cites lead levels 8,000 times higher than allowed, and says such levels in surface and groundwater pose "an imminent hazard" to humans and wildlife.
If the shooting-range-protection bill passes, the state will be barred from taking further action against Skyway: Any pending claim brought by the state must be withdrawn 30 days after the bill becomes law. The bill becomes law immediately upon passage.
Moreover, the state would be prohibited from taking any action against shooting ranges. State employees conscientious enough to do so could be charged with a criminal act. The degree depends on which version of the bill passes.
University of Florida researchers found high concentrations of lead in soil and groundwater around six public shooting
ranges.
Sen. Durell Peaden, RCrestview, sponsor of SB 1156, sees little concern. He has a military firing range in his district, and argues: "It's hard for me to consider us having the two highest performing school districts if birdshot and lead cause brain damage."
He and other shooting-range supporters argue that shooting ranges are a necessary part of gun ownership. Thus, it is "backdoor gun control," said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, to regulate shooting ranges.
Scott Randolph, a staff attorney with the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, a Tallahassee environmental lobby, recently wrote that the claim that enforcement of environmental laws infringes on Second Amendment rights "is like arguing that dumping toxic waste into a river is an expression of free speech under the First Amendment."
The Legislature provided limited immunity to shooting ranges from civil suits or criminal charges in 2001 "based on an underlying charge, or claim of noise or noise pollution" if the range was in compliance with noise ordinances at the time of its initial operation.
The bills now being almost unanimously embraced by legislative committees go far beyond 2001 -- even though staff reports point out the dangers associated with lead accumulation from shooting ranges. The analysis also noted that the DEP has embarked on a two-year project to develop best-management practices for shooting ranges, developed a database of public and private sector ranges, funded lead-stabilization studies and worked with ranges on a voluntary basis to clean up lead deposits.
If the bills pass, however, there will be no incentives left to voluntarily cooperate with the state.
While the legislation doesn't prohibit court action from citizens in the case of future contamination, the staff analysis noted that "it may make such a suit more difficult due to the absence of an underlying state action." Gov. Bush has said he wouldn't support a blanket immunity bill, but he left open the possibility of signing a modified bill.
The Florida DEP has the duty to protect residents from health hazards. Do members of the Legislature believe that lead and arsenic are any less dangerous if the come from the barrel of a gun instead of from industrial waste?
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040218/NEWS/402180310/1036
If committee action is any indication of what's going to happen during the Legislature's session opening next month, a bill to make shooting ranges immune from any regulation -- including environmental laws -- will sail to the governor's desk.
There are at least 400 ranges in Florida. Of those, the Department of Environmental Protection is working with nearly 30 to clean up large accumulations of lead. Range operators have been understanding about the dangers of lead and arsenic leaching out of the bullets and into groundwater, and have cooperated with state health officials. One -- the Skyway Trap and Skeet Club in St. Petersburg -- has a court date with the
state.
Over the years, the Florida DEP estimates, from 14 million to 26 million pounds of lead have accumulated in the soil and water. The DEP cites lead levels 8,000 times higher than allowed, and says such levels in surface and groundwater pose "an imminent hazard" to humans and wildlife.
If the shooting-range-protection bill passes, the state will be barred from taking further action against Skyway: Any pending claim brought by the state must be withdrawn 30 days after the bill becomes law. The bill becomes law immediately upon passage.
Moreover, the state would be prohibited from taking any action against shooting ranges. State employees conscientious enough to do so could be charged with a criminal act. The degree depends on which version of the bill passes.
University of Florida researchers found high concentrations of lead in soil and groundwater around six public shooting
ranges.
Sen. Durell Peaden, RCrestview, sponsor of SB 1156, sees little concern. He has a military firing range in his district, and argues: "It's hard for me to consider us having the two highest performing school districts if birdshot and lead cause brain damage."
He and other shooting-range supporters argue that shooting ranges are a necessary part of gun ownership. Thus, it is "backdoor gun control," said Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, to regulate shooting ranges.
Scott Randolph, a staff attorney with the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation, a Tallahassee environmental lobby, recently wrote that the claim that enforcement of environmental laws infringes on Second Amendment rights "is like arguing that dumping toxic waste into a river is an expression of free speech under the First Amendment."
The Legislature provided limited immunity to shooting ranges from civil suits or criminal charges in 2001 "based on an underlying charge, or claim of noise or noise pollution" if the range was in compliance with noise ordinances at the time of its initial operation.
The bills now being almost unanimously embraced by legislative committees go far beyond 2001 -- even though staff reports point out the dangers associated with lead accumulation from shooting ranges. The analysis also noted that the DEP has embarked on a two-year project to develop best-management practices for shooting ranges, developed a database of public and private sector ranges, funded lead-stabilization studies and worked with ranges on a voluntary basis to clean up lead deposits.
If the bills pass, however, there will be no incentives left to voluntarily cooperate with the state.
While the legislation doesn't prohibit court action from citizens in the case of future contamination, the staff analysis noted that "it may make such a suit more difficult due to the absence of an underlying state action." Gov. Bush has said he wouldn't support a blanket immunity bill, but he left open the possibility of signing a modified bill.
The Florida DEP has the duty to protect residents from health hazards. Do members of the Legislature believe that lead and arsenic are any less dangerous if the come from the barrel of a gun instead of from industrial waste?
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040218/NEWS/402180310/1036
