DISCOVERY BAY – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials want to see if Security Services Northwest’s Gardiner facility is polluting the area.
The EPA plans the site assessment as a result of a request from the state Department of Ecology, which received a complaint on Sept. 10 from Gardiner resident Margaret Bailey, a nurse.
Bailey suggested that lead poisoning could be originating from the shooting range on the property, making its way to Discovery Bay waters and threatening shellfish that people consume.
“I’m trying to take this in a new direction, away from noise and ask, ‘Are people being poisoned?'” Bailey said.
“These are just wild accusations,” said Joe D’Amico, SSNW president, who added that he will cooperate with the federal agency.
Meanwhile, supporters and opponents of a proposal to rezone 40 acres in the hills of Gardiner west of U.S. Highway 101 to allow SSNW to relocate its shooting range are gearing up for tonight’s public hearing on that proposal, as well as others.
The Jefferson County Planning Commission will host a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. tonight at Chimacum High School, 91 West Valley Road, to take public comments on proposed comprehensive plan amendments.
Bailey has been circulating a petition opposing a proposed comprehensive plan amendment that D’Amico has submitted to rezone about 40 acres in Gardiner from rural resident to commercial forest.
This would allow him to relocate the shooting range two miles up the hill.
The move is an attempt to mitigate the noise neighbors hear from the gunfire.
Baily said she has between 150 and 200 signatures of those who oppose the proposal and will turn them in at tonight’s Jefferson County Planning Commission meeting.
