Congressmen: Coast Guard Withdraws Plans for Live Fire on Great Lakes
Posted on: Monday, 18 December 2006, 18:00 CST
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Coast Guard is withdrawing plans to periodically close 6,475 square kilometres of the Great Lakes for live machine-gun exercises, three congressmen said Monday.
Representatives James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Dave Obey (D-Wis.) said Admiral Thad Allen, the coast guard's commandant, told them the exercises would be suspended indefinitely and the proposal would be withdrawn.
Oberstar said Allen "was dissatisfied with the process by which the coast guard undertook this activity."
Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) said coast guard officials told him of the decision about the program, which was criticized by several U.S. and Canadian mayors, business leaders and environmentalists who said it could be unsafe and disruptive.
A coast guard spokesman would not immediately comment.
Coast guard officials had stressed in hearings around the Great Lakes in recent months that live-fire practice was an essential part of weapons training and noted they have safely conducted live-fire tests in U.S. coastal waters for years.
The coast guard had said the plan was designed to create test zones and schedules that would have minimal effect on the environment and Great Lakes boat traffic.
Source: Canadian Press
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