Lead contamination at Kincaid Park's old biathlon shooting range has tangled up the construction of a multimillion-dollar soccer stadium.

State, city and federal officials met Thursday to discuss what to do about lead-contaminated dirt that remains at the former shooting range.

A volunteer-run organization fell afoul of state and federal rules for hazardous-waste management two years ago when its contractors excavated, stockpiled and regraded some of the contaminated dirt without regulatory approval.

The volunteer organization, called the Kincaid Project Group, had been preparing to transform the firing range into a $3 million artificial-turf soccer stadium. The project was just one component of the group's $11 million project to upgrade trails, build a soccer complex and add other recreational facilities at the park.

The excavation at the shooting range was a costly error that still has not been fully resolved. Two years ago, the federal Environmental Protection Agency took charge of the cleanup. The EPA filed a notice of violation against the city and the Kincaid Project Group for the unauthorized stockpile of contaminated dirt. The group says it and the city spent $75,000 to ship 78 tons of dirt laced with lead bullet fragments to a Lower 48 landfill.

But bullet fragments remain in the ground and soil testing has shown that lead in some spots at the old biathlon range still exceeds state cleanup levels. Figuring out how much contaminated dirt needs to be removed or treated will require additional tests, regulators said this week.

If the test results show a lot of lead is widely scattered and buried in the former range, cleaning it up will get expensive, said Jan Palumbo, an EPA site manager handling the cleanup.

'KEEP OUT'

The former range, just south of the popular Kincaid chalet, is now fenced off with "keep out" signs around its perimeter. For now, the Kincaid Project Group -- rather than the city -- is in charge of the property.

State and federal officials said this week that they need the Kincaid Project Group to prove that none of the dirt excavated at the old biathlon range was used on the group's other construction projects in the park -- such as the seven new natural-turf soccer fields it built to the north of the chalet.

Otherwise, those fields will have to be tested for contamination too, said Eileen Olson, a contaminated sites specialist at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

The Kincaid Project Group insists that none of the dirt from the biathlon range was moved to other locations and says it has the paperwork to prove it.

After the meeting Thursday, Olson said it looks likely that the Kincaid Project Group will be able to prove that the dirt remained at the range.

"I think we're moving forward," she said.

WHO IS TO BLAME?

The group's lawyer, Peter Van Tuyn, declined to comment this week about how its contractors ended up moving the dirt in May 2008 in violation of state and federal rules.

In March 2008, the Kincaid Project Group had requested advice from state regulators on how to handle the lead contamination, state records show.

In June 2008, a contractor for the group proposed a cleanup plan to the Department of Environmental Conservation. But the document mentioned that soil had already been excavated at the range.

"I was like, 'Whoa, it's already done?' " Olson said.

"We (still) don't know what happened behind the scenes there," she said.

Van Tuyn said at some point there will have to be a discussion about what went wrong, but he declined to assign blame to anyone. He said the group hired a "really good" engineering firm that had been recommended by the DEC.

Six weeks ago, the Department of Environmental Conservation sent letters to the contractors involved in the construction project -- the engineering firm, Shannon & Wilson Inc., Landcape Design North Inc. and Roger Hickel Contracting Inc. -- requesting information about their work at the site. The letters told the contractors that they could be held financially liable for the contamination. The state had already sent similar letters to the Kincaid Project Group and the city government.

On an interim basis, the state has withdrawn its letter to Shannon & Wilson identifying the company as a "potentially responsible party" that could be held liable. The company contends its role was just to conduct tests and prepare a soil cleanup plan. The state cannot hold it liable for any contamination, the company wrote in a protest letter to the agency.

All of the contractors participated in Thursday's meeting.

Van Tuyn said the volunteer group is working with city officials and regulators to get the firing range cleaned up so the soccer field can be opened as soon as it's safe. He hopes that can happen in time for the beginning of soccer season next spring, he said.

The Kincaid Project Group has already built a new biathlon firing range near the chalet, in a spot less prone to wind gusts than the original location.

The soccer stadium is on hold, but its seats have been installed -- the seating area was dug out of a hill that was not contaminated by lead, state regulators said.