New data offered to Clark County and the state Division of Ecology has raised considerations about how Camp Bonneville is being utilized by regulation enforcement companies.
In September, the state auditor’s workplace discovered that each Ecology and the county had did not conduct periodic opinions of cleanup actions at Camp Bonneville as required. Ecology is now engaged on finishing the overview, and Clark County despatched questionnaires to the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and different companies utilizing the county capturing vary at Camp Bonneville about how the positioning is used.
Associates of Camp Bonneville member Gregory Shaw, who served on a neighborhood advisory group disbanded by the county, stated these questionnaires revealed troubling practices.
In line with the FBI questionnaire, the company makes use of the property 70 to 80 days a yr. Nevertheless, Shaw stated the final contract with the FBI in impact restricted use to 45 days a yr. The contract expired in 2022 and is at present in negotiations.
“(The county has) obviously agreed to significantly expand the federal use of county land without any signed agreement and without any compensation since the agreement expired in December 2022,” Shaw stated. “Why? How does this benefit the citizens of Clark County?”
Website established in 1909
Established in 1909, Camp Bonneville was created for army coaching. Troops stationed at Fort Vancouver used the positioning as a drill area and rifle vary. A capturing vary utilized by regulation enforcement companies, together with the Clark County Sheriff’s Workplace and FBI, remains to be in operation on the property.
The army stopped utilizing the practically 4,000-acre web site in 1995. In 2006, the U.S. Military transferred possession of the property to Clark County.
With tens of millions of {dollars} in grant funding from the Military, the county undertook efforts to clear the property of unexploded ordnance, explosive compounds, munitions and lead, in addition to cleansing up soil and groundwater contaminants.
4 of the 5 contaminated areas are actually thought-about clear. The remaining work entails eradicating sitewide groundwater contamination. Earlier this month, the council agreed to increase its contract with the Military to 2054, receiving $6 million in further funding to help with the cleanup.
“The topics of concern for the residents living around Camp Bonneville are numerous,” Vancouver resident Patti Reynolds stated throughout Tuesday’s county council assembly. “The recent drafted agreement for the usage of the shooting range, the apparent storage of explosives within the camp boundaries by the ATF, and the continued inaccuracies in reporting the status of water contamination and remedial cleanup have filled up my brain.”
Teresa Hardy of Vancouver stated the brand new details about regulation enforcement actions is a big departure from the council’s earlier discussions.
“We were assured in no uncertain terms that the county was negotiating a more stringent contract with the FBI and that it was regaining control over Camp Bonneville,” Hardy informed the council Tuesday.
As a substitute, she stated, the county has ceded administration to the regulation enforcement companies utilizing the positioning, which then expanded their operations.
“This is supposed to be a (Model Toxics Control Act) cleanup site, not Disneyland for CCSO, the FBI, ATF, Portland Police, the Cowlitz Tribal Police, the metro bomb squad,” Shaw stated. “Ecology seems to think this is all fine, even as the property is slowly reverting to a weapons training facility, and as most of the property is left uncleared of unexploded ordnances and untested for groundwater contamination.”
In search of data
Council Chair Sue Marshall and Councilor Glen Yung stated they wish to look into the allegations. Yung stated he’ll ask employees to carry the data to the council.
“I definitely want more information. I don’t know if they’re violating the contract or not,” he stated. “That, to me, requires a course correction immediately if it’s found they are violating the terms of the contract.”
Yung stated that if corrections can’t be made, the contract would have to be terminated.
“That’s the purpose of a contract: to regulate what does and doesn’t happen,” he stated.
Deputy County Supervisor Amber Emery stated a revised contact with the FBI ought to come again earlier than the council for approval in early February.