Nassau OKs funds for cleanup of firearms range
The Nassau Police Firearms Range, which has been closed for health reasons since late June, will likely reopen early next year after the Nassau County Legislature this week approved $135,000 for its cleanup.
"The faster we can get that range back up and running, the faster we can resume a full training schedule for all of our members, the happier we will be," said Lt. Sean McCarthy, deputy commanding officer of the personnel and accounting bureau.
Although county officials initially denied a police union's charge in April that the range was unsafe, new police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey closed the range shortly after he took office, after the Police Benevolent Association gave him the results of tests it had done at the site in June.
PBA officials had argued that at least two officers stationed at the range had higher-than-normal lead contents in their bodies
"We asked the department to close it and, after reviewing our report, they did," said Jim Carver, the Nassau PBA's first vice president. "Mulvey and Chief [of Department Anthony] Rocco were with us on this issue."
PBA officials had argued that at least two officers stationed at the range had higher-than-normal lead contents in their bodies, possibly from the hundreds of thousands of rounds fired at the range. In addition, they said, lead buildup contributed to incidents in March and April in which four officers using the firing range were hit by ricocheting bullets or dirt and debris kicked up when bullets hit lead-laden berms. No one was seriously hurt.
The Nassau range is expected to be open by early February, county officials said.
The funds OK'd by the legislature are for a contract with a Denver-area firm, Metals Treatment Technology, to treat and remove lead-contaminated soils from the range and track lead there. The company has patented technology that lets it treat the soil so it is not considered "hazardous material," which is extremely expensive to transport.
The $135,000 will come from a hazardous waste response fund and from the Outdoor Pistol Range Replacement-Capitol Project fund.
Posted Friday, October 26, 2007
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