The city is on the hunt for a contractor to begin the process of removing four decades of lead build-up at a law enforcement firing range sitting on a piece of Moccasin Bend that will one day belong to the National Park Service.
A 2014 environmental assessment of the site from the park service showed about 6,147 tons of surface soil across five areas of the range contained more than the federal limit for lead and that tainted water might be flowing into the Tennessee River.
The discovery prompted the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to require that Chattanooga develop a program to prevent or reduce pollutant runoff at the site.
City engineer Bill Payne said the city had two options in regard to the built-up lead: to leave it in place and simply treat the runoff, or to remove the source of the lead.
"After looking at it, it's something that needs to be done anyway for the long-term use of the property," Payne said, referencing restrictions that would prevent the National Park Service from accepting lead-polluted land. "So we're looking for someone who can come in and mine that soil and get the lead out of it."
Interested contractors will tour the Moccasin Bend firing range this morning and have until Aug. 11 to submit bids for the job.
TDEC spokesman Eric Ward said in an email that the upcoming remediation will be the biggest "on-the-ground" step taken toward a permanent solution yet.
Payne said that work is expected to begin by the end of the year. Citing the ongoing bidding process, he did not give a budget for the remediation project, but he said that the public works department received some of the $300,000 recently allotted for firing range maintenance by the city council and county commission.
Local officials agreed more than 10 years ago to move the firing range away from Moccasin Bend and allow the National Park Service to incorporate the space into its long-term vision for Moccasin Bend.
There have been a few false starts on finding a new range, though, and the Chattanooga Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff's Office have continued to use the facility, despite its aging condition.
A firing range committee established in October consisting of city and county officials, local law enforcement and National Park Service advocates is working to figure out logistics and funding for a new range so the property can be transitioned to the park service.
The city's work to remediate the range may take a load off the committee's shoulders, although Payne said some additional work may need to be done before the final land transfer can occur.
"From the park perspective, anything they're doing to remediate lead at Moccasin Bend, we see that as a positive," Friends of Moccasin Bend executive director Michael Wurzel said.
The committee resolved informally at its first meeting last November to have a solution in place within a year. It now is divided into three groups, including a property group tasked with identifying potential locations for a new range, a budget group exploring funding strategies and a group that is outlining what police need at a new firing range.
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.