Maryland, River Group Settle Fight Over Creek

Great Seneca To Be Monitored For Lead Shot

The Maryland state government has settled a 5 1/2 -year fight with an environmental group over Montgomery County's Great Seneca Creek, which was heavily contaminated with lead shot from a shooting range on state land.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources spent $1 million to dig out nearly 3,000 pounds of shot from the creek bottom and nearby wetlands. Now, the state and the activists who sued it -- the group Potomac Riverkeeper -- say the creek does not appear to pose a health threat to people or wildlife.

The two sides signed a settlement agreement last month that requires the state to test creek water and groundwater for lead contamination five times in the next 10 years. If high lead levels are found, the activist group has the right to sue again.

The settlement ends a case that began in June 2003, when a Riverkeeper member reported finding lead accumulated on the creek bottom. In some spots, it was six inches deep, said Ed Merrifield, who heads the group.

He said it took months of prodding for the state to begin treating the problem seriously and years for officials to order the shot cleaned up.

"It was a mess," Merrifield said. "You'd put your hand in the creek, and you'd think you were going to pick up some stones or some sediment from the bottom, and you'd have nothing but lead shot in your hand."

Eric Schwaab, deputy secretary of the state's Department of Natural Resources, said the administration of Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), which took over in 2007, had tried to act quickly.

"We have taken this very seriously and earnestly moved forward" to treat the site, Schwaab said.

The two sides say there was no evidence that wildlife or people were harmed by the lead. But Merrifield said the site could have been dangerous: Tests on groundwater in the area showed lead levels that were many times higher than limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"They were polluting, and they shouldn't have been doing it," he said. "It's that simple."

The lead came from the barrels of shotguns at the National Capital Skeet and Trap Club, a private shooting range on Riffle Ford Road in Darnestown, which had operated on county land for decades. The state bought the land years ago and allowed the club to stay open.

Through the years, many shooters' pellets missed clay pigeons and fell into Great Seneca Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River.

Then, in 2003, the Riverkeeper group found the accumulated shot and notified the state that it intended to sue. The state closed the gun range but did not begin cleaning up the lead immediately.

In 2005, Merrifield's group followed through on its threat to sue.

The two sides wrangled for more than a year before coming to an agreement about how the site would be cleaned up. The state eventually scooped out many lead pellets and hired contractors who applied a chemical that is supposed to keep the rest of the pellets from contaminating the water.

Schwaab said lead remains in the soil and creek, "but it's been treated, so it's environmentally inert."

The agreement requires the state to test the creek, its tributaries and the groundwater seeping from nearby springs in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2019. It also requires the state to pay the Riverkeeper group $10,000 to cover attorneys' fees.