Residents Skeptical on Pollution Survey of Ex-US Firing Range
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Residents in Gyeonggi Province are challenging a recent pollution report on a former U.S. Air Force firing range there, saying its coverage was not extensive enough.
The reaction came after the Ministry of National Defense announced its results of a survey on pollution at the former range in Maehyangni, Hwaseong.
According to the report, the range and its vicinity were more contaminated than previously thought with heavy metals such as copper, lead and cadmium.
But the residents alleged that the survey was limited in coverage.
In an area of around 2.4 square kilometers, 6,960 square meters were found to have been heavily polluted with oil, and heavy metal from the thousands of rounds used there over the last five decades. Pollution on the beach near the range and in neighboring waters was much more severe than that of the land.
The survey was conducted between June 2006 through March 2007 by the Defense Ministry, the Environmental Management Corporation and Mokpo National University.
The government said it will spend 119 billion won to cleanup the area over the next two and a half years, after which it will be transformed into a public park.
Local residents did not accept the findings, alleging that the survey failed to cover all areas of concern.
``The survey was meaningless and absurd,'' Chun Man-kyu, head of an ad-hoc committee on pollution at the former shooting range pollution, told The Korea Times. ``It is because the result did not cover the possible and potential contamination caused by numerous unexploded bombs in the soil. These bombs will pollute not only underground water that we drink but also neighboring water.''
More than 85 percent people in the region make their living by selling fish and seaweed.
``From the early stages of inspection, the committee has repeatedly insisted that the government should cooperate with local residents, civic groups and experts in surveying the degree of contamination of the area, and compensate the victims. But the government conducted research with only a few organizations it selected on its own,'' Chun added.
The commission chief said the survey result did not contain any measures to compensate those who were mentally, financially and physically damaged by the range.
It plans to lodge a letter of protest this month with the Defense Ministry calling for a reexamination of the site.
``We are considering filing a lawsuit against the government, unless our suggestion is accepted. We are also preparing to take legal action at the U.S. Federal Court for damages the U.S. Air Force inflicted,'' he said.
The range was used for 54 years from 1954, one year after the end of the Korean War (1950~53).
It was shut down in August 2005 in the wake of protests and a Supreme Court ruling.