Chapter I: Environmental and Regulatory Concerns at the Shooting ...

BMP for Lead at Outdoor Shooting Rangesapportionment of liability was made and the finaldetermination of each parties’ pro rata share ofthe response cost was deferred.This case shows that range activity need notaffect a water body to trigger CERCLA liability.CERCLA is a powerful statutory authority thatcan greatly impact current and former rangeowners/operators. The statute allows forrecovery of damages to natural resources, thecost of any health assessment studies and allcleanup costs. Liability may extend to pastowners and operators long after a range ceasesoperation.1.2.4 Additional Laws and RegulationsShooting ranges may also be subject to stateand local laws and regulations. Many stateshave adopted their own environmental laws,which are based on federal laws. Specifically,these states have laws and regulations thatmirror the CWA and RCRA program laws. EPAapprovedstate program laws must be asstringent as the federal laws and may be morestringent. Activities at shooting ranges may alsobe subject to local laws, ordinances andregulations addressing issues such as noise,zoning, traffic, wetlands and nuisance. Often,citizens or neighbors of outdoor shooting rangescan initiate noise nuisance claims againstrange owners/operators. Because many stateshave passed legislation protecting ranges fromnoise nuisance lawsuits, these may turn intoclaims of environmental violations under thelaws discussed above due to the presence oflead and other products at ranges.1.3 Benefits of MinimizingLead’s Environmental ImpactAll ranges will benefit from proactivelyimplementing successful BMP’s. Even ifrange activities currently do not cause adversepublic health and environmental impacts, bydeveloping and promoting active leadmanagement programs, ranges will benefit in thefollowing ways:• Through a sound lead managementprogram, shooting sports enthusiasts canreduce the potential of lead exposure andcontamination to humans, animals and theenvironment.• A lead management program will result inimproved public relations for the rangeand the shooting sports. Ranges canpromote and publicize their successful BMPprograms to improve their public image.Since many of the legal and governmentalactions begin with or are due to citizengroups, an active lead management programmay improve the public image of the rangewith these citizen groups.• The removal of spent lead from the rangepresents a clean, well maintained facility,which will increase customer satisfaction.• Lead is a recyclable and finite resource andcan be recovered from the active portion ofranges and sold to lead reclaimers.Frequently, reclaimers do not charge rangeowners/operators to recover lead fromranges, and owners and operators mayreceive a percentage of the profit from thesale of reclaimed lead. This factor drivesrecycling efforts at many ranges.• By reducing or eliminating a potentialsource of lead migration in soil, surfacewater and groundwater, range owners/operators may avoid costly and lengthyfuture remediation activities.• Finally, implementing a BMP program forlead may eliminate or greatly reduce therisk of citizen lawsuits and the legal costsassociated with these lawsuits. Throughmanagement and removal practices, leadmay no longer represent a threat upon whichcitizen lawsuits are based.Range owners/operators may question whetherthe benefits of a regular and timely BMP programoutweigh the efforts of implementing andmaintaining a program. The questions may ariseespecially for ranges at which shooting activitiesinvolve waterways, since national attention hasfocused on ranges located adjacent to water(e.g., Remington Arms and the New York AthleticChapter I - Page I-12