Will It Cost San Leandro $80,000 To Get The Lead Out?

Union Pacific Railroad has asked the city of San Leandro for $80,000 to help it offset the estimated $3.1 million cost of cleaning up lead-contaminated soil at the site of a firing range in Richmond once used by local police.

In a March 25th letter attorneys for the railroad asserted that this target practice by SLPD and other law enforcement agencies "caused and/or contributed to the lead contamination" at the now-defunct Stege Pistol Range.

According to an environmental remediation plan, the former pistol range occupies 2.5 acres of a 50-acre site west of Interstate 580 and south of the Bayview Avenue overpass in Richmond near the Point Isabella shoreline. 

The railroad says various law enforcement agencies used the pistol range from 1980 through 1997. Union Pacific says it has already spent $512,000 in environmental remediation, and thinks it will have to lay out another $2.6 million to finish the job.

San Leandro is not the only city facing such a request. Union Pacific says it is seeking "far less" from all the police agencies than it will spend on the cleanup.

"UP is not making a demand for defense or indemnity at this time," the letter states. "Rather, in exchange for the (City's) participation in the sharing of costs . . . UP will release and indemnify the (City).

Council members considered the matter in a closed session Monday night and announced no action.