Feds spend $3.7M to remediate Patrol's shooting range

NOGALES, Ariz. — The federal government will spend $3.7 million to clean up a Border Patrol target shooting range in Nogales where the soil is now contaminated with lead and arsenic, according to a report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Border Patrol agents used the range from about 1992 to 2010, the report states. The half-acre lot is privately owned but is leased by Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency.

Remediation includes digging up all contaminated soil and sending it to a landfill.

“It’s definitely the right thing to do, and it’s something they should have done, and I’m glad they’re doing it. It’s not unexpected,” said Cyndi Tuell, a Sierra Club volunteer with expertise on how Border Patrol policies affect the environment.

A spokesman for CBP said the agency was working on a statement regarding the cleanup but had not issued one as of Tuesday afternoon.

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The Corps of Engineers report says there’s a small risk that contaminants could migrate to other locations via erosion, or biological or human activity.

There are no fencing or containment barriers that separate the area.

“The remedial approach is protective of human health and the environment, complies with legally applicable federal and state requirements, and is moderately cost-effective,” the report states.

But Tuell said the $3.7 million cost is more than normal. A similar shooting range cleanup in a nearby national forest is costing the fraction of what is estimated for the Nogales restoration, she said.