has the government gone mad?


today my two brother-in-laws, my father-in-law, and i went skeet shooting. this is not something i do a tremendous amount of the time but it is something that i enjoy doing when i get the chance. i get the chance about once or twice a year. needless to say i’ m not the greatest at it.

while i was there i spent a little time talking with the guy who was operating our range. he told me that if they closed the facility (which they might in december of 2004) the guy who owns the property will be forced by the e.p.a. to clean all the lead off the property from the shot that has fallen from the shotguns that are fired there. according to the e.p.a. the approximate cost for this clean up will be between $8 and $22 million. the second the range closes the owner will have to begin with the clean up. if he doesn’t then he will lose the property to the e.p.a.

i personally believe in keeping our environment as clean as possible. i truly believe that we have been given a scared trust by GOD the FATHER to be stewards of HIS creation. we have a responsibility to protect the earth – from those who would abuse it and from thus who would unintentionally hurt it. i understand fining and stopping those who would damage creation. of course, i also think that we should use our brains.

this shooting range has been going on for 50 years. yes there is a lot of lead in the ground because of that. i just can’t believe that even 50 years of lead shot would be so dangerous to the health of society that it must be removed at such a high cost. the e.p.a. says that the owner will have to remove all the trees from the area and then scrape three feet of the topsoil off. surely the resources that will be used to clean this site could be better used in other more environmentally dangerous areas. the real irony of this whole thing to me is that the e.p.a. says that if the site continues to be a trap shooting site then everything is okay. they only have to clean up the site if they stop being a trap shooting facility. if they continue then everything is okay and no clean up needs to be done.

i hate this because it’s stupid things like this that cause sensible people to dismiss all environmental concerns. the stupid things like this keep some people from standing up for the really important concerns.

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