BEP to hold hearings on Warren rifle range permits

WARREN – The Bureau of Environmental Protection will hold two hearings Dec. 6 to consider action against R.D. Outfitters’ rifle range on Route 90 for violating its permits.

The first meeting, which will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. at the Masonic Hall on Route 90, is set aside to discuss the issues regarding the rifle range between the bureau, state Department of Environmental Protection, the rifle range owner and other interested parties such as the town, neighboring property owners and the Oyster River Bog Association.

A second hearing, to be held at the same location from 7 to 9 p.m., will be devoted to public comment.

R.D. Outfitters, also known as Steamship Navigation Co., has been in violation of an agreement with the DEP in its construction of berms and other requirements at the site.

The berms, which are mounds that are fired at with rifles, are made of a highly flammable polyester fiber material and are covered with a paper sludge material. Another issue at the site had been the encroachment of some of the materials onto neighboring land owned by Dr. Robert Dreher.

Last January, the rifle range was cited for placing materials used to make its berms on Dreher’s property and within a 50-foot setback.

The materials have been cleared from Dreher’s land, Michael Parker, a DEP Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management spokesman, said Tuesday, but some areas within the setback have not been corrected.

Four berms being built were supposed to be completed by July 1, as well as correction of erosion problems at the site, removal of materials from Dreher’s land and from within the setback area, Parker had said.

By late October, only one of the berms had been finished, not all of the materials had been removed from the setback area and the erosion control measures still needed to be done, he said Tuesday.

Information from the public hearings will be used to determine if R.D. Outfitters has the financial and technical ability to carry out the project, Parker said.

Recently, a report in a local newspaper indicated that Steamship Navigation owner Randy Dunican was insolvent. Parker said that information came from Dunican’s attorney, Edward Dardis of Damariscotta, and was inaccurate and unauthorized.

According to Parker, Dunican has severed his ties with Dardis and hired a new attorney, Alfred “Fred” Frawley of Portland. Frawley did not return a telephone call Tuesday.

If Steamship Navigation were to sell the property, the permits could be transferred to the new owner, Parker noted.