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twitterGun range opponents’ ammo: Environmental studies
Tiffany Brown
The Clark County Shooting Park, under construction north of Interstate 215 between Decatur Boulevard and Buffalo Drive, is expected to be open to the public no later than October, though the Nevada Environmental Coalition is trying to stop it.
Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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The first portion of what is to become the largest shooting park in the nation is expected to open in the coming weeks, but the efforts to stop it are far from over.
The park’s 178-acre “public module” phase could get a tryout as soon as Aug. 25, Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins said Tuesday. Other county officials said it would be open to the public no later than October.
Nonetheless, on Monday the president of the Nevada Environmental Coalition filed a 15-page document with the Interior Department arguing that the psychological effects and the safety hazard of what is eventually to become a 2,900-acre shooting park in the north valley were not adequately studied. The local activist, Bob Hall, is trying to force the Bureau of Land Management to conduct a full-blown study of the environmental impact of the park.
After the public comment period ends in early September, the BLM will have 30 days to issue a “decision record,” which might include an agreement that more study is needed. The BLM’s Gayle Marrs-Smith said if that decision determines there is no significant impact from the shooting park, then another 30 days will be allowed for appeals.
Matt Callister, a lawyer representing neighbors of the park, said he is planning to step back into the fight, too. Callister has sent a letter saying that the BLM’s environmental assessment was “rudimentary, just another gloss, another sheen and doesn’t provide the level of assessment near the level they should be providing.”
His biggest worry, echoed in Hall’s document, is that if the shooting park is successful, “it’s going to be immense and it’s going to be busy, and the detrimental impact has not been calculated.”
Callister added that new momentum to turn as much as 35,000 acres to the park’s immediate west into a national monument has also not been adequately studied. The shooting park is north of Interstate 215 between Decatur Boulevard and Buffalo Drive, north of Moccasin Road at the base of the Sheep Mountains. An area being pushed by residents and the National Park Conservation Association for national monument status is to the west, also at the base of the mountain range.
“This is a major paleontological site,” he said, noting the thousands of ice age fossils found and many thousands more that scientists believe remain underground. “We’re going to raise that issue all the way screaming and showing how it conflicts.”
Marrs-Smith said the BLM is working on an environmental assessment on a portion of those 35,000 acres. That analysis will take into account the possibility of increased use if national monument status were to be attained, and whether that use would be compatible with the nearby shooting park.
But Callister said he isn’t confident that study will be enough.
“We’re far from done,” he said.
Neither is the county, Collins said. The “public module” is only one step toward opening the entire first phase, which will take up 900 acres and cost about $64 million.
The park has been the focus of local talk and county planning for more than two decades.
Federal land was formally transferred to the county in 2003, with the express purpose of building a shooting park.
Since then, as homes and development have moved north and gotten closer to the proposed area, neighbors have complained that when they purchased their homes they weren’t told a shooting park was going to be built nearby. Competing studies about noise from gunfire that will emanate from the site have been offered by the county and residents, who organized as a limited liability corporation, Residents for the Relocation of the Clark County Shooting Park.
With the help of Callister, the group filed a lawsuit. Homeowners argued they were not properly informed of the proposed use of the land, that a shooting range would violate county noise ordinances and that necessary environmental impact studies were never performed on the land.
Though a federal judge did not order an injunction against the park’s construction, he agreed that more environmental study was required, in part because the BLM was doing a study.
That report was released this month, but Hall said his analysis has convinced him that more study should be done.
He said, for one thing, the environmental assessment didn’t adequately consider the potential dangers of the shooting park. That, in turn, makes it more likely that “taxpayers will take it in the neck” if someone gets hurt at the park, he added.
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Good luck, guys. It's a done deal.
The environmental study has some merit. However, the residents who claim they weren't told should sue their real estate agents, not the county--this reeks of the same perfume as the residents' complaints from around the pig farm. We need a shooting park, and I'm just not sure that the environmentalists aren't up in arms because they are anti-gun. Perhaps those who really want the park should see if the NRA won't give them a hand.
Just open the park already - I've been waiting long enough. And a big plus to BC_Redhead - it's not the county they should be suing. Plus I live in the area, and there are a ton of foreclosures around that area in particular - so I don't think a lot of people have closing the shooting park at the top of their list. And we all know the history of Matt Callister - not the most steller of agendas.
Anyway, open the park it will safer than just having everyone go all over the desert and shoot with not safety restrictions.
Environmental studies, gee thats a new one.
Who gives a crap about the environmentalists? I plan on doing all of my shooting at this park when it opens. I'm sick of the, "OMG, you don't have a Prius? What is wrong with you?" type of people.
havnt they had that area cordoned off since the mid 60's after discovering dinosaur remains out there
Is the enviromental study going to include the effect of what's going on now with hunreds (thousands?) of shooters going off in the desert with little or no control?
Open the park and work on steering all of the desert shooters who leave their trash and targets strewn around into this park. It will be a HUGE plus for our local environment.
I am a gun owner. But I am embarassed by others who drag all sorts of appliances and other household crap out in the desert and just leave it after they are done shooting.
Mr. Callister should be out stopping communities from being "walled off" not stopping target shooters from enjoying a great park.
Mr. Callister is the type of Lawyer that gives the Law Profession it's deserved bad reputation.
I guess frivolous lawsuit is the only suit he owns.
"taxpayers will take it in the neck" if someone gets hurt at the park"
As with all public ranges, you sign a liability waiver before you're allowed to shoot.
"Homeowners argued they were not properly informed of the proposed use of the land"
Blame the home developers, your real estate agent, and also yourself for not doing proper due diligence before purchasing a home.
Mr. Hall and Mr. Callister are obviously rousing up another frivolous complaint. Their claims have no merit and will be denied just like the previous claims that Mr. Callister brought forth on behalf of a few homeowners.
This news article fails to tell what the outcome of the last lawsuit was. It makes it sound like the judge's only ruling was that a full Environmental Assessment would be required. It is all public record folks, read the judges ruling. Mr. Callister, attorney for the plaintiffs previously brought forward 63 motions or reasons to halt the park. 62 of the 63 were "DENIED in all other respects." The only motion that went the plaintiffs way, was a requirement for a complete Environmental Assessment.
The news article also fails to mention that the Environmental Assessment is now complete. Anyone care to guess what the conclusion of the report was? 'Findings of No Significant Impact". That is right a complete Assessment as required by the judge by a non-bias third party, and once again, Mr. Callister looses.
One thing that the news article does get right is that Mr. Callister and his buddy Mr. Hall are not giving up. They are continuing to file more frivolous complaints. Wake up America, the only way to stop frivolous complaints is to file countersuits for defense fees!
Gee Whiz, just open the park already. Why is it the whiners of the world have more say than those of us who follow the laws and own guns.
Get a life out there, will you and stop trying to keep the rest of the law abiding citizens of this state from doing what we have every right to do.
If you can't take the gunfire, get the heck out of the neighborhood.
The full environmental study needs to be done by the BLM. The creation of the park was with good intention. Get people away from rogue desert shooting. However, as we all know we have not had the most ethical political officials in our city and county government and they were heavily influenced by the builders campaign contributions. This shooting park at one point in time was in an isolated area. What the misguided officials have done is allowed the residents to encroach once again on the shooters getting us back full circle to the problem they were trying to correct in the first place. Unfortunately, due to poor planning by City and County officials they let the land get developed up to the wash.
Readers do not understate the fact that the BLM was found at fault in the trial for not completing an environmental assessment. This was a major win by the people that raised the issue in court. In regards to the other issues that the judge in this case did not rule on in favor of the people at the time of his ruling he suggested for them to wait until the park is built and realize actual damages versus him ruling on their speculating on the future damages. At that point they can come back into court with a civil suit that reflects real damages.
Readers lets not continue this cycle of poor planning. If a full blown environmental study is not done, and these nearby folks can substantiate real damages when the park opens, (such as the noise can not be contained adequately by the County park operators) the BLM, City and County could be liable for huge civil damages for their negligence in the steps leading up to this facility. Lets face it, these same officials have received fair warning on the environmental concerns all the way through the construction process and basically ignored them or used erroneous 2002 study data to explain environmental conditions in 2009.
At this point the people living in the environmental impact zone including, the nearby students at Shadow Ridge High School deserve to know the impact that this unprecedented facility will have on the surrounding area.
I am not anti-gun just anti screw-up and than raid the coffers for millions of dollars to settle civil damage claims.
You can always tell when metro-sexual gun fearing California men move into an area. Any growth or improvement is met with BS "Environmental studies"
Its time to take our state back from the nanny state Californians and DEMAND this park be finished ASAP.
If the sound of gunfire in the distance scares you SO MUCH, then do us all a favor and move back to the land of fruits and nuts.
A gun range being built behind a high school??? Enough said.
The county should have complied with the LAW.
Period.
A full EIS must be be done. Look at the picture in this article and tell me that those homeowners (Who were there first) and the students at the highschool on the left side of the picture are not going to be disturbed morning til night, 7 days a week.
Just like the shooters want a place to practice their hobby, these people want a place to live peacefully. You can't fault them for taking a stand to defend their homes.
You are RIGHT! Gun ranges should not be behind a High School! They should be in the High Schools as they are in Washoe School District and northern Nevada.
And we should have an NCAA Rifle Team at UNLV as the have at UNR so the best So NV High School shooters could get scholarships - as they do at UNR.
NCAA Rifle is the only College sport where male and female athletes compete equally against each other. We need more gender equality!
Liberals- speak up for equal treatment of men and women in college sports! Support a UNLV Rifle Team!
If you think I'm kidding - Goggle the UNR Wolf Pack Rifle Team.
Gun Owners Win: / And PC Liberals Lose: And thats a good thing all around!
Saw the CCSP shooting park opening coverage on TV. What a group of NRA pandering politicians. Perhaps our Federal, County, and City overlords simply wanted to signal that all talk of a BLM environmental review period is a sham to be squashed under the thumb of the Nevada delegation like a desert tortoise under a landmover. They should all get their as**** up to Montana where they can fit in and go unnoticed.
The law is clear and the County has complied. Yet the anti-gun contingent still pressed on, the judge immediately denied 62 of 63 arguments that the County had not complied. Now the anti-gun contingent is about to loose that 63rd argument, as the completed environmental assessment has a "finding of NO significant impact."