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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Federal pols weigh in on proposed machine-gun range

Beth Treffeisen    Cape Cod Times

Published Apr 15, 2021  

JOINT BASE CAPE COD — With plans set to move forward with a proposed multipurpose machine-gun range, members of the state’s Congressional delegation echoed the concerns of the community and environmental organizations in a joint letter late last week. 

U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. William Keating shared their concerns in a letter sent to the Massachusetts Army National Guard on Friday, and requested additional action prior to construction of the proposed gun range at Camp Edwards. 

In response, members of Joint Base Cape Cod spoke out on the stringent measures taken to ensure the multipurpose gun range is environmentally safe. 

“Not only are we training here, but most of us live around here and don’t want to contaminate the environment or the drinking water,” Maj. Alexander McDonough, Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security Officer for Joint Base Cape Cod, said when reached by phone Wednesday.  

'Finding of no significant impact'

In 2015, the National Guard was awarded a military construction project to build the multipurpose range. The approximately $11.5 million project consists of $9.7 million for range construction and $1.8 million for targetry. 

The National Guard Bureau, a federal agency that oversees all state militias, plans in the coming days to declare a “finding of no significant impact.” 

Once the National Guard gives its final approval, the range is certified under the National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed plan will then go to the Massachusetts Environmental Management Commission, which will vote on whether to approve the plan.  

More:National Guard finds proposed gun range wouldn't impact environment

Since the public became aware of the project last summer, congressional legislators have received numerous correspondence from residents expressing their concerns over the impact of the proposed gun range on the environment and surrounding communities, the letter said. 

“We believe in the mission of the Guard, and we also agree with our constituents that our State & Federal government has an obligation to take all possible care in determining any potential impacts that the construction of this range may incur – even if that means going above and beyond what is required by the statute,” the letter said. 

The National Guard’s proposal for the machine-gun training range calls for clearing 170 acres of forest and disturbing about 199 acres of land. 

Although 170 acres sounds like a lot, it is only 1.2% of the overall property at the base, said retired Brig. Gen. Christopher Faux, executive director of Joint Base Cape Cod. 

By allowing the gun range to be installed, he said, funding also is provided to the park rangers who help maintain and sustain the scrub pine forest located on the base. Also, he said, the majority of the footprint of the proposed gun range will be going back to managed habitat. 

“Sometimes you've got to cut down a tree to save a forest,” Faux said. 

More than 5,000 acres would be required to accommodate the operation, since it would include the area where projectiles fired on the range would land.

“If this range wasn’t viable (the environmental agencies) would have stopped us,” McDonough said. “We are not in the business of building a range that is unsustainable. We are in the business of building a sustainable range that meets the soldier's needs and the environmental ones.” 

Over the past five years, the National Guard has coordinated with multiple state and federal agencies to ensure that adverse impacts to natural resources, including state-listed rare species, were avoided or mitigated. 

Mitigation for the project will be on a 4 to 1 ratio, with 4 acres of mitigation for every acre affected. A direct transfer of 260 acres of land will be given to the Crane Wildlife Management area, which abuts the base. 

A formal environmental review of the project began in May 2019 and was conducted under both the National Environmental Policy Act and the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act. 

The MEPA process was completed in July 2020 when the Massachusetts National Guard received a certificate from the department that shows the submitted project adequately and properly complies with the state’s regulations. 

The range would be used for training of military personnel and weapons qualification. Trainees would travel to the base from around Massachusetts and surrounding states. 

The gun range will best suit the needs of the military if it is located on the base because many soldiers are struggling to meet the annual qualifications, McDonough said. Currently, soldiers have to travel long distances during their few training weekends a year to meet this annual requirement, he said. 

To do all of that travel on top of the training is almost impossible, Faux said.

JBCC environmental concerns

Joint Base Cape Cod is more than just an essential part of the Cape Cod community and a driver of the local economy, the letter from the legislators said, it is also atop the sole aquifer on Cape Cod. 

“For too long, activities on the land now known as JBCC did not take environmental impact into account,” the letter said. However, the base has evolved over the years into a model for renewable and environmentally sensitive defense installations, the letter continued. 

Since the cleanup of the base began, there has been ongoing dialogue and collaboration between the base, local officials and environmental groups to ensure that training activities protect Cape Cod’s water supply, the letter stated. 

“That collaboration must continue to ensure that the greater Cape Cod community continues to support the base,” the letter said. 

Proposed Cape Cod machine-gun range under fire from residents, Sandwich rally planned to protest machine gun range

 

Proposed Cape Cod machine-gun range under fire from residents

By Denise Coffey 

Posted Oct 10, 2020 

Trees growing on up to 220 acres would be clear-cut for the $9.7 million project. Eight firing lanes would allow soldiers to train on a variety of weapons systems, including M249 automatic weapons and M240B machine guns. Copper bullets would be used.

JOINT BASE CAPE COD — Leaders of the Massachusetts Army National Guard struggled to win the battle for the hearts and minds of Cape Codders Thursday night.

In a presentation about a proposed multipurpose machine-gun range at Camp Edwards, officials failed to convince the attending public that the range would pose no significant impacts to groundwater or wildlife, and that concerns about increased traffic and loud noise were unfounded.

The state Environmental Management Commission and its two advisory bodies, the Community Advisory Council and the Science Advisory Council, sponsored the meeting. The Commission was created by the Massachusetts Legislature to ensure activities at the base don’t adversely affect water quality or wildlife habitat. It has the final say over the project.

Trees growing on up to 220 acres would be clear-cut for the $9.7 million project. Eight firing lanes would allow soldiers to train on a variety of weapons systems, including M249 automatic weapons and M240B machine guns. Copper bullets would be used.

The firing range would be situated over the Upper Cape Water Supply Reserve on Camp Edwards, the aquifer is the main source of drinking water for the four towns on the Upper Cape as well as Barnstable and Yarmouth. Because it is so critical, the Environmental Management Commission is tasked with monitoring the compliance of 19 environmental performance standards, including pollution prevention, vegetative management and the protection of wildlife and habitat.

Dr. Michael Ciaranca, deputy director at the Environmental and Readiness Center at Camp Edwards, said a 2014 groundwater investigation found no significant impact to the aquifer from the use of lead or copper projectiles at the base. However, 66 tons of projectiles and 9 million pounds of soil had to be removed from the base’s 16 ranges to comply with state regulations.

The Guard proposes to recover the copper munitions with a variety of methods. When asked about the toxicity of copper to marine and freshwater invertebrates, Ciaranca said any metal will affect aquatic life.

The military has spent $375 million over the past 20 years to clean up explosives and propellants associated with artillery and mortar fire at the base. “But it isn’t the same thing as the Guard is proposing for this range,” Commission Environmental Officer Leonard Pinaud said.

Guard Natural Resources Manager Jake McCumber weighed the importance of training soldiers while balancing conservation efforts. The clear-cut required for the range would be offset by mitigation plans on the base. He called the Atlantic coastal pinelands ecosystem one that was “disturbance-dependent,” that responsible management was healthier for the forest than unchecked growth.

“We are removing some forest,” he said. “We take our conservation responsibility seriously.” The site location is low, densely vegetated, unhealthy and doesn’t support rare species, he said.

The Guard proposes a perpetual management plan, extensive monitoring and 4 acres of mitigation for every acre affected.

Critics of the proposal said such significant deforestation would be harmful for the Upper Cape.

Brewster resident Betsy Smith called the project “unambiguously awful.”

“We are living through a climate crisis,” she said. “We should be planting trees, not cutting them down.”

Barnstable resident Cole Silva opposes the project because of what he called the severe consequences it posed to air quality, wildlife habitat and the sole-source aquifer.

The vetting process met all the regulatory milestones required by the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act, according to Keith Driscoll, MEPA manager for the Guard. More than 900 comments were received in a 30-day period that ended Sept. 8.

But many in attendance said they had never heard about the gun range. If they had, they said, they would have spoken up, too.

McCumber said he has been speaking to area town officials about the range since 2012.

“You started thinking about this in 2012 and I heard about it from a tiny ad in the Cape Cod Times?” Sandra Faiman-Silva said. She called the review process done by the Guard “deplorable,” and said serious environmental, cultural and socio-economic problems hadn’t been investigated fully.

Jim Wolf, a member of the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative, said the clearing of 170 acres of land would result in a huge loss of carbon sequestration.

“We believe the environmental assessment is deficient,” he said. “The claim of ‘no significant impact’ is unbelievable. A full environmental impact statement should be prepared.”

Andrew Gottlieb agreed. The executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod said conclusions reached by the Guard were predetermined and self-serving. “This project needs to be reassessed or rejected,” he said.

The Guard has never completed documentation necessary for an Environmental Impact Statement, according to Driscoll. He said that would take an additional two to three years.

If the range is built, it will draw Guard units from Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine as well as some active Army units, according to base commander Col. Matthew Porter. Troops would generally train on weekends and occasional weeklong training exercises in the summer. About 1,200 soldiers are assigned to the weapons systems that would be used.

Mimi McConnell, chairwoman of the Community Advisory Council, called the 3½ hour meeting a disappointing beginning. The Zoom meeting was limited to 100 people. Technical glitches and poor audio quality didn’t help.

“The Environmental Management Commission takes this seriously,” she said. “They are committed to listening to the public. We need to pay close attention and be realistic and fair-minded.”

The date of a future meeting hasn’t been determined.

For more information go to massnationalguard.org/ERC/publications.htm. All comments will be processed and made available for public release.

Sandwich rally planned to protest machine gun range

By Christine Legere

Posted Oct 11, 2020 

SANDWICH — The Sierra Club and several other citizens action groups are hosting a rally Monday protesting the planned machine gun range at Joint Base Cape Cod.

The rally, titled “Cape in the Crosshairs,” will begin at 11 a.m. on the grounds of the Forestdale Elementary School, 151 Route 130, and continue at 11:30 a.m. at the school entrance. Masks and social distancing are mandatory.

The Massachusetts Army National Guard’s plan to create the machine gun range has drawn criticism over concerns that it will adversely affect the Upper Cape water supply. Opponents also have spoken out against plans to clear away 170 acres of forest on the base to support the project.