The cleanup of lead contamination from the Plantation Rifle Range is now planned to start a year later than originally expected.
The contamination is more widespread than originally thought, according to an update from Whatcom County Parks and Recreation and the Washington State Department of Ecology during a public meeting on Thursday, June 20. Cleanup is now estimated to start in the late spring and early summer of 2025 with a planned reopening of the range in fall 2025.
Christ Thomsen, operational manager for Whatcom County Parks and Recreation, characterized the estimation of the range cleanup date as a “Hail Mary run.”
He said during the site characterization study, geologists found more extensive lead contamination across the small bore and the high-power outdoor ranges.
“If you look at the sides of the range and the extent of how far the lead is into the sides rather than the range floor, that was unexpected,” he said. “We kept having to go further and further and further.”
Targets were moved during the 50 years the Plantation Rifle Range operated, leading to lead contamination spreading out around its two outdoor ranges. The range, one of two publicly owned ranges in the state, served a number of people from law enforcement to hobby shooters.
During that time, the range was never cleaned. In November 2022, the range, including its outdoor and indoor pistol ranges, closed as county officials and Ecology came up with a plan on how to remove the lead.
Thomsen pointed to two maps of the range that were presented during the meeting showing the extent of the contamination. Purple “hotspots” outlined where either targets were placed or where the berm was on the high-powered range. But each map showed lead levels extended further than thought.
The small bore contamination map was five times the size of the 400-foot range itself, Thomsen said.
Aside from how far the lead spread on the surface of the range, the site characterization found lead from bullets had sunk 2–3 feet down into the soil. But, Thomsen and John Kane, from Kane Environmental which is conducting the characterization study, felt confident the sinking lead wasn’t impacting the groundwater supply.
“We installed some wells this past winter and we found that groundwater at the site — even the shallow water — is not impacted, which is good news,” Kane said.
Water run-off from the Plantation Rifle Range goes to Lake Samish, either through Ruby Creek or through groundwater. Thomsen and officials from Ecology assured the small number of residents at the public meeting Thursday that water testing at Lake Samish and Ruby Creek had found drinking water safe for human consumption.
Thomsen said the county planned to do more testing on surface water run-off at the site including near the wall in the small-bore range, and in two locations in the high-power range including a culvert found mid-range and a ditch in the area.
Kane Environmental hopes to publish its investigation into lead contamination at the site by August. After that, a feasibility study and alternatives for cleanup will be conducted before cleanup starts in the spring.
It’s also expected that as part of Kane’s investigation, the extent of the contamination vertically and horizontally will be revealed, said Scarlet Tang, a spokesperson for Ecology.
The county estimates the total cost for cleanup sits between $6.5 million and $13.8 million. The county has applied for an oversight remedial action grant from Ecology to help pay for $3.14 million in costs if selected.
People wishing to submit public comments about the cleanup can do so until Friday, June 28.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
