Potential location for the Joint Base machine gun range. Town of Barnstable
BOURNE – Army National Guard officials are standing by their proposal for a multi-purpose machine gun range at Joint Base Cape Cod despite an EPA draft determination opposing the project.
Base Operations Manager for Camp Edwards Mathew Porter said the range would not have any significant impact on the surrounding environment, and that it would save costs associated with sending soldiers to other bases to train—sometimes including out of state.
“We’re talking 6 to 8 hours each way and you have to remember, we’re a national guard force, so we’re training on the weekend. So when we eat 16 hours of travel time in a weekend, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for training. It’s a lot of wasted time on something that we’re not building readiness for,” said Porter.
The EPA’s draft determination said the range could pose a public health risk as the Cape has no backup source of drinking water should training contaminated the sole source aquifer.
An EPA hearing at 7 pm Wednesday at the Center for Active Living on Quaker Meetinghouse Road in Sandwich will allow members of the public to make their voices heard on the project.
For the full Sunday Journal interview with Porter and other officials on the gun range, click here.
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