October 30 Coast Guard Target Practice on Lake Ontario Hearing

Dear Partners in Peace,

I'm writing to you both as a member of the Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice and as a member of Citizens for Lake Safety. We have found here in Illinois that many of the same values which bring us to the peace and justice movement also resonate within the environmental movement.

The Coast Guard is planning to use the Great Lakes for life-fire target practice using lead ammunition. This plan is shortsighted and unwise in many ways - just to name a few: it breaks a treaty with Canada dating back to 1817 which bans militarizing the Great Lakes, it puts known toxins into the Lakes which are the water source for over 41 million people, and it puts boaters at potential risk from stray bullets.

Please pass this information along to any and all in the region who may want to appear to testify at the public meeting in the Rochester Area. I realize that this hearing is very close to the elections, but we have to stop them from polluting the lakes and militarizing our homeland. The cynic in me thinks that is probably not an accident. We have heard that large turnouts of bodies is very important to the success of putting a stop to this plan.

There is more background information available at our website. www.citizensforlakesafety.org. Thank you in advance for any help you can give us in getting the word out.

peace,
marcia


Citizens for Lake Safety

Coast Guard to Use Great Lakes for
Target Practice Using Lead Ammunition No Environmental Study
of long term effects!

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 U.S. and Canada has prohibited this kind of activity on the Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard has 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 in form of lead ordnance.

The “safety zones” 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).

Rochester, ny hearing
October 30, 2006
4:00pm open house
5:30pm public meeting

Rochester Fast Ferry terminal
1000 n. Rivera street
Rochester, ny.

Agenda for the public meeting:
Opening remarks by Rear Admiral John E. Crowley, Jr., U. S. Coast Guard, Commander,
Ninth Coast Guard District, including an overview of the proposed rule.
Topics to be addressed by subject matter experts:
• Introduction of the proposed zones and the need to train on the Great Lakes • How the Coast Guard determined locations of the zones • Scheduling and frequency of training in the zones • Notification procedures • Safety procedures • Weapons and munitions • Environmental risk assessment overview

For more information visit www.citizensforlakesafety.org