During a Wednesday, Oct. 1, meeting, the Clark County Council discussed what comes next for Camp Bonneville after voting last month to end a long-standing contract with the FBI.
The agency, which had used the site for firearms training, came under fire when ammunition stored there was stolen earlier this year.
The council’s most immediate decision was what to do with the three other agencies that still use Camp Bonneville: the Clark County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the regional Metro Explosives Disposal Unit (MEDU).
Camp Bonneville is a 3,840-acre former U.S. Army training site that was used for live-fire exercises for much of the 20th century before the Army closed it in 1995 and transferred the property to Clark County in 2006. The federal cleanup and reuse process has been lengthy and costly: the property contains unexploded ordnance, lead and other hazardous materials, and past agreements with outside users included remediation obligations aimed at addressing these hazards.
Past negotiated remediation figures and investments have varied in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and county staff say the exact scope and cost of additional cleanup work remains to be determined once the site is assessed.
The FBI, which had continued to use the site for training, lost 12,000 rounds of ammunition from the range due to theft, which played a big role in the council’s decision not to continue its contract in August.
Residents at the Oct. 1 meeting pushed those cleanup and conservation concerns into the center of the discussion, telling the council the land’s natural character clashes with its continued use as a firing range and training facility. Several speakers urged the county to stop law enforcement training and remove explosives from the property, saying the public was promised parkland and conservation when the land was transferred.
“It’s time to remove all explosives and deny future access of SWAT, ATF, and the MEDU as they continue to delay, clean up and exploit county land without regulation nor payments,” local resident Patty Reynolds said. “Storing explosives at Camp Bonneville is an attractive nuisance that invites more thefts and further (endangers) local citizens.”
During the meeting, County Chair Sue Marshall indicated strong support for opening the area to the public following the cleanup process.
“I think in the public’s mind this is a natural area, this is a park, so that leads me to think ultimately these uses should be phased out,” Marshall said. “I understand there’s a great deal of difficulty (in) figuring out where you go if this is phased out, and I would support having a task force … come together to really wrestle with that.”
For now, SWAT training will continue. Councilors agreed to negotiate a two-year contract with the sheriff’s office, but several emphasized that any deal must include fees, environmental protections and clear limits.
The ATF will be allowed to continue storing explosive evidence at the site while councilors seek more information. MEDU’s situation also remains unresolved. The unit, which disposes of explosives across the region, has used Camp Bonneville less frequently in recent years. Councilors asked staff to clarify the scope of its training before making a decision.
“I feel like at this point I would be supportive of allowing SWAT to continue usage until we iron out those details,” Councilor Glen Yung said. “But the other two, I don’t know enough about, quite frankly, and I’d prefer to put a pause on it until we’re able to address it.
Councilors noted the FBI’s old agreement required the agency to pay for remediation, but county staff admitted it would be nearly impossible to separate damage done by the FBI from that of local users.
Sheriff John Horch told councilors that while it may not be possible to calculate which agency caused what amount of lead contamination, the county should not rule out further discussion with the FBI, especially given its cooperation with local law enforcement task forces.
“I don’t think you’d be able to determine the FBI versus CCSO SWAT. It would be impossible,” Horch said. “But I think at least the FBI should be given a chance because we do have a good relationship with them. They work with us on a lot of task forces. We couldn’t do some of the things we do without them.”
Horch added that if the council wanted to fully close Camp Bonneville to the FBI in the long run, the agency should still be allowed to make its case.
“I’m not going to die on that hill for them,” he said, “but I’m just saying I think they should be given a chance to be listened to.”
Marshall responded that her larger concern was whether the site can ever be fully secured, given the theft earlier this year.
“If there’s hazardous materials and weapons and ammo that’s stored out there … somebody’s going to have to convince me that it’s securable,” she said. “It’s a concern.”
