The cleanup of lead at the Plantation Rifle Range could cost county taxpayers more than the $6.5 million “worst-case” figure mentioned just months ago.
The current estimate for the removal of bullet fragments from the range has risen to between $6.5 million and $13.8 million, said Christ Thomsen, the operations manager for Whatcom County Parks & Recreation, who’s also the cleanup project manager. The $6.5 million figure was floated as the worst-case scenario in December during a public informational meeting.
Thomsen said Thursday, April 4 that the county was working with consulting firm Kane Environmental on cost estimates, and until the study of site characterizations was finished, the final cost was “unknown.” The range has been operated by Whatcom County since the early 1970s.
Whatcom County has also applied for an oversight remedial action grant from the Washington Department of Ecology to help pay for cleanup at the 60-acre site, which is expected to start this summer, Scarlet Tang, a spokesperson for the department, confirmed in an email.
If the county is selected for the grant, it’ll receive $3.14 million, about half of the expected low-end cleanup cost. Although, if the grant is awarded, the county won’t be able to access the funds until July 2025, Tang wrote. The county would be eligible to apply for reimbursements for work that’s completed before that date.
The department will be hosting a public comment period from May 6 through June 21 for a draft permit, authorizing the site to continue cleanup activity under Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act, Tang wrote.
A report by Kane Environmental on cleanup alternatives is also expected to be released by early summer, Thomsen said.
The Plantation Rifle Range has been closed since November 2022 as county officials have worked to create a plan for cleaning up more than 50 years of lead accumulation from the three ranges: the outdoor high-power range, the indoor pistol range and the outdoor small-bore range. The original estimate for the cleanup was $1 million.
As of December, the rifle range was expected to reopen either in late 2024 or 2025.
Additional costs will come with what promises to be a complicated redesign of the range, intended to limit future accumulations of lead in the soil and in wetlands on the site.
“We’re not going to be able to allow deposition of lead, new rounds, into the wetlands, and that’s where the complication comes in,” Thomsen told CDN in December.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
