Joint Base Cape Cod has met all environmental standards to construct a machine gun range and they urgently need support from the local community. This range has been four years in the planning. Our national Guard troops need this range for their mandated machine qualifying training. Our troops currently have to take precious and limited training time for this task and waste it on time traveling to bases in either Vermont or New Jersey. Our troops are made up of our family and neighbors and they deserve the best training available in our local community. Joint Base Cape Cod can provide that training in an environmentally safe way. Please support the construction of the machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod. Our National Guard troops deserve our support. State Senators Cyr and Moran need to know that the base has widespread community support for this much needed project.
No decision yet on the machine gun range. It is now in for an EPA review of any water/aquifer issues. That will not be done until Spring and then there will be a 30 day comment period. Opponents like APCC are arguing that the Ft Devens planned gun range is sufficient. But they fail to note that the Joint Base Cape Cod plan calls for two 1500 meter lanes which are good for sniper rifle and machine gun practice. The Ft Devens planned ranges are only 800 meters and are not adequate for that need.
Activity on this issue slowed a little. The EMC's Community Advisory Council meeting has not been rescheduled yet (originally planned in June). Falmouth has a public meeting on this on Aug 26th. APCC has been quiet lately but one person has been writing against the gun range in a couple places. He asks 1 or 2 good questions in this article - esp about a future gun range in Ft Devens - see https://www.capenews.net/opinion/proposed-machine-gun-range-let-s-play-twenty-questions/article_38e4919a-a8bc-567c-b392-22e6468b135c.html . Another opinion writer says the Cape water supply is safe from the gun range - https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/opinion/2021/07/08/water-supply-safe-proposed-machine-gun-range-joint-base-cape-cod/7886812002/
A couple things:
1) If you want to write the EMC in support of the gun range, a good email is ENV-MGMT@mass.gov . Emailing the staff member, Mr, Pinaud, does not work as he is out on medical leave as of a week or two ago.
2) Apparently the county commissioners are getting involved as described in this article - https://www.capenews.net/regional_news/county-commissioners-to-express-legal-concerns-about-joint-base-cape-cod-gun-range/article_32453c55-673d-5e39-a010-a1c8459a6b53.html It would be useful to write the Commissioners in support of the gun range. Their email addresses are
a. Ronald Bergstrom (Chatham) Ronald.bergstrom@barnstablecounty.org
b. Sheila Lyons (Wellfleet) sheila.lyons@barnstablecounty.org
c. Mark Forest (Yarmouth) 2024 mark.forest@barnstablecounty.org
3) The meeting of the EMC Community Advisory Board still has not been rescheduled. That is the next step for public involvement. It will be…
It is also useful to send comments in support of the gun range to env-mgmt@mass.gov. This is the state's Environmental Mgt Commission which oversees Joint Base Cape Cod. They will make the final decision. From my limited research, Joint Base Cape Cod has not had new ground water contamination for more than 20 or 25 years. This is due to the many environmental controls that were placed on the Joint Base since the 1990s. This includes environmental standards, policies and establishment of the state’s Environmental Mgt Commission overseeing the Joint Base. There are no suitable other locations as the gun range requires a 5,000 acre safety zone. The proposed gun range has passed federal and state environmental reviews. Environmental …
There will be a public meeting on this topic soon of the EMC's Community Advisory Council. The date and time will be posted at EMC's web site. It will be useful for supporters of the gun range to attend and speak in support against environmental alarmists. For date, time, logistics, see this EMC web site: https://www.massnationalguard.org/ERC/monthly_public_meetings_calendar.htm