READY, AIM, MISFIRE - Coast Guard's proposal to test guns on Great Lakes hits waves of opposition from Congress, boaters

READY, AIM, MISFIRE - Coast Guard's proposal to test guns on Great Lakes hits waves of opposition from Congress, boaters
By Michael Hawthorne
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published September 2, 2006

The Coast Guard has been quietly planning to conduct target practice on Lake Michigan with boat-mounted machine guns that would be fired a few miles from beaches along the North Shore.

But plans to establish a permanent "live-fire zone" in waters near Highland Park, Lake Forest and Waukegan--and in 33 other spots around the Great Lakes--are on hold after boating groups and an influential member of Congress complained that the public wasn't informed about the exercises.

The proposal, so unusual it required changes to a nearly 200-year-old disarmament treaty with Canada, is raising concerns that recreational boaters might unwittingly cross into the live-fire zones or get hit by stray bullets. Car ferries that operate in the summer between Wisconsin and Michigan also would pass through the zones.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, are concerned that lead and other metals in the bullets could add more toxic pollution to the Great Lakes.

"This was a surprise to me and many others," said U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), who serves on a congressional subcommittee that oversees the Coast Guard. "When we think about the Coast Guard on the Great Lakes, we think about search and rescue missions, not firing machine guns."

Coast Guard stations around the Great Lakes began mounting M240 machine guns on cutters and small boats this year, marking the first time since World War II that the lakes have had routine armed patrols.

The 7.62 mm guns, which can fire up to 600 rounds a minute, were installed as part of the nation's anti-terrorism efforts, the Federal Register shows.

Firing live ammunition at floating targets in the lakes is "essential to carrying out Coast Guard missions relating to military operations and national security," the documents state.

Coast Guard boats on the lakes previously did not have mounted weapons, but crews carried rifles and pistols.

In the Chicago area, six boats stationed at Calumet Harbor are equipped to carry the heavier machine guns. None are currently mounted, Petty Officer Jarrod Morris said Friday.

Critics said the only notice of the training exercises was published Aug. 1 in the Federal Register. Because the Coast Guard now is part of the Department of Homeland Security, it was not required to hold public hearings or study potential environmental impacts.

Under pressure from Hoekstra, Coast Guard officials decided Friday to accept public comments for 60 days. They also are mulling a series of meetings around the Great Lakes to provide more information.

Chief Petty Officer Robert Lanier, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's Ninth District office in Cleveland, said each zone would be used for target practice by local guard members two or three times a year. The training exercises would last one or two days, Lanier said, though the notice filed in the Federal Register does not limit when the zones could be used.

"Our top priority when conducting these exercises is public safety," Lanier said.

Fourteen of the 34 live-fire zones proposed by the Coast Guard are on Lake Michigan, including sites near Kenosha, Milwaukee, Gary, Michigan City, Benton Harbor and Grand Haven. There are seven zones on Lake Superior, six on Lake Huron, four on Lake Erie and three on Lake Ontario.

Marinas and boaters would be notified of the exercises on a marine radio frequency, Coast Guard records show. Notices also would be posted at local marinas, and safety officials would watch for vessels that might drift toward the training areas.

But some marina managers and charter captains said many boaters now rely on cell phones and often don't tune radios to Coast Guard announcements.

Several boat captains interviewed Friday said they had little information about the exercises other than that some would be in prime fishing spots.

"It seems a little ridiculous to have so many parts of the lake set off like this," said Mike Schoonveld, who operates out of East Chicago. "Why don't they just get all their people in the middle of the lake, take care of what they need to do and let the rest of us fish?"

Jim Fenner, president of the Ludington (Mich.) Charter Boat Association, wondered why some zones are close to shore.

"We're all for homeland security, but we have a lot of questions about this," Fenner said.

Some marina managers and charter boat captains said they worried the live-fire exercises would damage the image of the Great Lakes as a safe and carefree tourist destination.

"It doesn't sound like a very good idea to me," said Ken Larsen, owner of Larsen's Marine at Waukegan Harbor. "We don't want this to scare people away from our industry."

In response to concerns about lead bullets falling into the lakes, the Coast Guard said its own study found the potential environmental effects would be minimal. The Michigan Environmental Council, though, wants an independent analysis.

In comments filed with the Coast Guard, the council complained that officials at the agency's Cleveland office would not release information about the type of ammunition or how many rounds will be fired.

Military exercises once were routinely conducted on Lake Michigan. During World War II, sailors from the Great Lakes Naval Air Station at Glenview frequently practiced bombing runs and fired live ammunition at targets in the lake, according to news accounts from the time.

However, the recent arming of Coast Guard boats on the Great Lakes required changes to a treaty that the U.S. and Canada signed after the War of 1812.

The treaty, which was written to limit naval forces and armaments on the Great Lakes, limited each country to equipping four wooden vessels with an 18-pound cannon.

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mhawthorne@tribune.com