The Guard's sweeping action comes just a week after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found lead dust had contaminated armories nationwide.
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The National Guard is halting all community events in toxic armories across the country, taking significant steps to prevent lead exposure just a week after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive revealed that lead from indoor firing ranges contaminated hundreds of the buildings.
The Guard issued an order setting imminent deadlines, pledging federal money for cleanups and launching a coordinated effort to gather details about contaminated buildings nationwide. Earlier cleanup efforts were sidetracked partly because the Guard required states to bear most of the cost.
The Dec. 6 order, which the Oregon Guard received late Friday, immediately closed nine Oregon armories to community events, a spokesman said.
The national price tag of the new initiative isn't clear, but cleaning toxic armories could cost federal taxpayers tens of millions. Oregon National Guard officials estimate that removing lead from the state's armories and repurposing the firing ranges will cost $21.6 million. Oregon spent $2 million on one armory cleaning alone. Ohio spent $3 million decontaminating armories last year.
The sweeping order comes nearly 20 years after the National Guard was warned that its indoor firing ranges were unnecessarily exposing soldiers and their families to dangerous lead dust.
It is "imperative" for states to start cleaning their armories, Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Kadavy, director of the Army National Guard, wrote in his Dec. 6 order.
Though most of the Guard's indoor ranges have closed, Kadavy's order called for an immediate prohibition on their continued use. Indoor firing ranges, he wrote, create significant risks to human health and the environment and no longer meet the U.S. Army's training requirements.
His order says that by Jan. 31, 2017, state Guard units must tell the National Guard's central office whether they have finished lead testing in all their armories with old firing ranges. They must also report what was found and whether lead was cleaned up following nationwide testing ordered in September 2015 in response to The Oregonian/OregonLive's queries.
States must tell the National Guard whether they think ongoing monitoring is needed and whether a plan is in place to continue checking for lead hazards. Guard guidelines call for annual testing in buildings with old firing ranges to ensure that lead that is sealed in place does not begin re-emerging.
The Oregonian/OregonLive investigation found many states have not followed those recommendations in the past, allowing lead to persist for years in armories thought to be clean.
By Feb. 28, 2017, state Guard leaders must tell the National Guard whether they've closed all their indoor gun ranges and give a timeline for any remaining cleanings.
While the order sets deadlines and provides a way for federal Guard officials to have more oversight of toxic armories, it sets no firm date for all armories to be cleaned.
The order leaves open the possibility that lead will continue to persist in armories for months or years to come. The Guard told states they should clean the buildings as funding permits with money they receive through their budgets.
But the order also says that "the cost of clean-up is considered to be 100 percent Federal share."
National Guard officials did not respond to calls and emails for comment.
Maj. Stephen Bomar, an Oregon Guard spokesman, said the national order affects armories in Bend, Pendleton, Roseburg, Ashland, McMinnville, Ontario, Springfield, Salem and Baker City. All housed active firing ranges until 2014. Many closed for cleanings but since reopened.
Toxic Armories
Every time a soldier pulled the trigger inside a National Guard gun range, a bullet cast off bits of lead. The Guard's neglect allowed the toxic dust to spread outside the range, endangering families who attended weddings, school sleepovers and Cub Scout meetings in America's armories.
READ THE SERIES
Three other Oregon armories -- in Coos Bay, Forest Grove and Northeast Portland -- remain off-limits to the public because they are still having work done inside.
The Oregon Guard immediately halted community rentals upon receiving Friday's order, Bomar said. Fewer than 10 events have been affected so far, he said.
The Oregon Guard has not moved to stop the use of other armories across the state where lead remains after firing ranges were supposedly cleaned years ago. Bomar said the agency was seeking clarification about whether the Guard's order applied to those buildings, too.
Bomar said the order does not apply to the former Ontario armory, which the state still owns and rents to a child gymnastics company, because it is not "federally supported." The Guard no longer uses the building for military activities.
Traces of lead, below the Oregon Guard's cleanup threshold, remain on the armory's floors. Its indoor firing range is still contaminated.
Anna Avera, who owns the gymnastics school, said Tuesday that the Guard recently began cleaning up the firing range.
-- Rob Davis | rdavis@oregonian.com | @robwdavis