WARREN — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is sending out another request for proposals on removing 27,000 tons of carpet that pose a fire hazard at an abandoned rifle range.

The previous contract expires at year's end with little to show for it. The Bangor Daily News reports that only 16 tons of material were removed.

Some have lost faith in the DEP, and think the town should take charge.

But residents voted Wednesday against foreclosing on the property, because that would make the town liable for the cleanup.

The mountains of carpet-like material arrived around 1998. Steamship Navigation claimed it was going to use the material to create a berm to stop bullets from leaving the property.

The property owners seemingly disappeared soon after the materials arrived. The DEP gained control of the site through a court order in 2001.