Letters: Proposed machine gun range a threat to Upper Cape's drinking water

Cape Cod Times 

Published April 16, 2022 

As a Bourne resident, I am anxiously awaiting the findings and opinions of the EPA that will result from their review and analysis of the specifications for the proposed machine gun range on Camp Edwards on Joint Base Cape Cod. This proposed facility is situated on top of a sole-source aquifer used for drinking water by residents of four Upper Cape towns (Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee and Sandwich).

I ask this environmental agency to also consider words spoken by a prominent American, Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He used these words while telling Philadelphians preventing fires is better than fighting them. 

Those of us who live here have experienced various water pollution cures costing millions that started when this military facility was designated as an EPA Superfund site due to pollution left there by various training and support activities.

What the EPA needs to consider in its final report is the fact that the majority of the people who live on Cape Cod drink water from this sole-source aquifer. This fact should be the major justification to deny the building of this firing range.

Cape Codders have already experienced one pollution remedy that failed. Tungsten bullets were the first environmental remedy recommended to reintroduce training at the gun ranges on the base. This remedy was short-lived because the material from spent ammunition was found leaching into the soil. There are other alternatives for machine gun training. New ranges are being built at Fort Devens in a location that does not threaten any public drinking water sources.

Richard Conron, Bourne 

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