Here is part of the article about using live ammunition
Alarm over using lake as firing range
Coast Guard plans live-ammunition training
Ecologists, shipping firms `very frightened'
Sep. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
CHRISTOPHER MAUGHAN
STAFF REPORTER
Canadian environmentalists and shipping companies are expressing concern now that the U.S. Coast Guard has unveiled a plan to hold live-ammunition training sessions on the Great Lakes.
"On the surface, it seems pretty irresponsible to be firing rounds there," said Ed Rahn, manager of vessel traffic for Seaway Marine Transport in St. Catharines. "As far as I know, we haven't even heard anything about this."
The Coast Guard will create 34 permanent training zones in open water near the Great Lakes shorelines. No training sessions are officially scheduled yet, but potential live fire zones include American waters near Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.
Officers would fire from small boats at targets on the water to practise using machine guns, rifles, and 9mm pistols, according to Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier of Cleveland's 9th Coast Guard District.
Rahn said the announcement could have a significant effect on Canadian shipping companies, though he wouldn't get into specifics before learning more about the Coast Guard plan.
"Obviously, though, we're not going to go through an area where there's live ammunition," he said.
Lanier said Canadian shipping companies had been informed of the exercises, but Liliane Laroche, an assistant manager at Quebec City's Groupe Desgagnés, said she hadn't been told about the training sessions either.
"It's very frightening. It's strange," she said. "Normally, we're informed as soon as there's something happening on the Great Lakes."
American companies have also expressed surprise at the Coast Guard plan. There was so much outcry about the suddenness of the announcement that members of Congress had to extend a designated public consultation period another 60 days.
Lanier recognized that the Coast Guard may have moved too swiftly. "The public may have not received enough information."
Environmentalists are concerned because the Coast Guard will be using lead-based ammunition. They say the lead could threaten many species of fish including the lake trout — one of the region's most popular sport fish — because it kills off bottom-dwelling organisms that the lake trout like to eat.
"Lead is on the International Joint Commission's list of 11 chemicals for virtual elimination," said Miriam Diamond, a University of Toronto professor studying water pollution. "It's immediately toxic to fish, algae and plankton."
Bill Zeleny, a manager at a Thunder Bay marina, echoed Diamond's concerns.
"We've had to reduce the use of birdshot on the lake," he said. "Lead brings on disease and other problems when the ducks ingest it."
The Coast Guard says it has done an environmental assessment with the help of two independent research companies. But according to the Michigan Environmental Council, that report isn't publicly available.
Diamond said the U.S. military has a poor track record over the last 10 years when it comes to the environment.
Recent controversies include the use of depleted uranium weapons in Iraq, and the use of the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, as a target range for U.S. bombs. |
