Coast Guard Trying to Establish Ranges in the Great Lakes
The Coast Guard is looking to establish up to 34 permanent ranges within the Great Lakes for live-fire training. The "zones" as they are calling them are located at least 3 nautical miles from shore and will be used for machine gun, small arms, and shot gun training. The Coast Guard needs the ranges for training to prepare for maritime threats including terrorism and drug smuggling. Machine guns were added to Coast Guard cutters back in 2004. Designed to fire up to 600 rounds per minuet, the machine guns increase the capabilities and effectiveness of the Coast Guard in responding to high threat situations and scenarios.
| Below is a list of the number of zones the Coast Guard has proposed for each of the Great Lakes. A chart of the upper portion of Lake Michigan with the proposed training zone locations is shown to the right. To view charts of the other lakes, simply click on the name of the lake. The Lake Michigan link will bring up the chart for the lower section of Lake Michigan.
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The Coast Guard issued a notice in the Federal Register back in the beginning of August with a 30-day public comment period. The plan drew a large amount of criticism from State Regulators, environmental groups, recreational boaters, fishing industry groups, and the public. The level of criticism and complaints lead the Coast Guard to extend the comment period on the plan through 13 November and to schedule four public meetings to discuss the plan. The groups opposing the plan feel that the training will adversely impact the environment and cause other issues such as increased noise levels and restrictions on the use of popular recreational and fishing locations.
The Coast Guard claims that the impacts to the environment will be minimized through the use of jacketed bullets, which essentially encapsulate the lead core from being exposed to the environment. According the posting in the Federal Register, the Coast Guard is looking into using a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This would essentially minimize or eliminate further environmental documentation of the decision or impacts from training. To date the Coast Guard has prepared at least one report assessing the health risks associated with the proposed training. The report (which is available below) concludes that the proposed training will not adversely impact the environment. This is shown by providing a risk analysis using realistic-worst-case assumptions for three types of environments (fresh water systems [e.g. Great Lakes], estuarine systems [e.g. Chesapeake Bay], and a riverine system). The risk assessment does indicate that risks could be elevated near potable water intakes and depths shallower than 20 feet. Since the proposed training zones areas are outside of potable water intake areas and deeper than 20 feet, the study concluded that the training would not cause a significant impact to human health or the environment.
The Coast Guard has used portions of the Great Lakes for munitions training in the past including zones near Charlevoix and Sault Ste. Marie but those sites were only temporary. The military still has hundreds of water ranges throughout the United States including ranges firing into the Great Lakes. It will be interesting to see if the military starts to get similar pressures from their water ranges.
UXOInfo.com will track the progress of the plan and the status of the proposed Coast Guard ranges.
Download the Federal Register notice on the Coast Guard's plan to establish small arms ranges in the Great Lakes.
Download the Preliminary Health Risk Assessment for the proposed Coast Guard weapons training exercises.
I was wondering if the Coast Guard applied for NPDES permits for the use of their ranges in the Great Lakes?
