GREAT LAKES LIVE SHOOTING RANGE

The United States Coast Guard has announced plans to turn the Great Lakes, the world’s largest body
of fresh water, into the world’s largest freshwater shooting range. Since 1817, a treaty between the US
and Canada prohibited this kind of activity on the Great Lakes. But when President Bush made the
Coast Guard part of the Department of Homeland Security in 2004, he reinterpreted the agreement
with Canada.

The Coast Guard has already installed machine guns, capable of firing 600 rounds per minute, on its
Great Lakes vessels and has begun target practice on the lakes. Now the Coast Guard wants to
designate 34 areas in the lakes as permanent target ranges for practice with live ammunition. The areas
they have mapped out come within five miles of the shore and can be seen with the naked eye from the
water’s edge. They are strung around the perimeter of all five Great Lakes (Lake Michigan, Lake
Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Huron). The Coast Guard is calling the target ranges
“safety zones.”

Environmentalists are dubious of the Coast Guard’s claims that dumping an estimated 43,000 lead
bullets into the lakes each year will have no adverse environmental impact on fish, birds, mammals,
plants, or humans. Consistent with the military’s view that they should be exempt from environmental
regulations, the Coast Guard has not prepared a complete environmental impact statement. Their own
internal study says that if the environmental risk reached a rank of 1.00 on their scale, the program
would need further study. However, the Coast Guard says the program’s risk is 0.96, so they are not
concerned. The Coast Guard’s risk assumptions only assume the shooting will take place for a period
of five years, although the Coast Guard has announced no such limit on their plans for shooting in the
lakes.

Our lakes are an international treasure, enjoyed by nature-lovers, boaters, fishers, and swimmers, and a
critical resource for commercial fisheries, transportation, and shipping. The lakes are also the source of
drinking water for millions of people. They should not be turned into a target range, endangering anyone
who ventures out onto the lakes. They should not be unnecessarily polluted by lead and other toxins.
There are alternatives to the Coast Guard’s plan. There must be some limit to the militarization of our
society, and this is an important and symbolic place for those of us who work for peace and who value
the environment to stand our ground.

Initially, the Coast Guard intended to proceed with this plan without public comment. When
newspapers exposed the plan, public outrage pressured the Coast Guard to hold public hearings
between Oct. 16 to Nov. 8. All meetings run from 5:30 to 8 p.m., with time from 4 to 5:30 p.m. for
informal questions and background information.  For a list of the public hearings, go to
http://www.uscgd9safetyzones.com/go/doc/1295/135377/

For more information, visit http://www.citizensforlakesafety.org/
For Frequently Asked Questions and maps detailing the Coast Guards plan, visit
http://www.citizensforlakesafety.org/coast_guard.html

ACTIONS
1. Sign the petition at  http://www.citizensforlakesafety.org/petition.html You need not be from one of
the states surrounding the Great Lakes to sign.
2. Send this Bulletin to you friends and encourage them to sign the petition.
3. Attend a public hearing. For a list of the locations, visit
http://www.uscgd9safetyzones.com/go/doc/1295/135377/
4. Whether or not you can attend the public hearing, write a letter to the U.S. Coast Guard. Mail the
letter to P.O. Box 2324, Northbrook, IL 60065 and it will be hand-delivered at the public hearing in
the Chicago area.. All letters will become part of the official public record of the hearings.