Sandra Faiman-Silva, a Falmouth resident and anthropology professor at Bridgewater State University, said “the current debate over siting of the machine gun rage is a case of those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.” For decades, the base caused contamination to the Cape’s drinking water, leading to more than a billion in investigation and cleanup costs, she noted. Many residents in Bourne and nearby Cape towns have balked at the proposal since the initial pitch. and scoffed at potential climate implications. “If these troops need the machine gun range, so that they can be trained so they can be competent to serve our country and to serve the taxpayers, then I say give it to them,” said one man who only identified himself as Andrew O. Though most who testified at the evening meeting objected strongly to the project, a handful said uncertainty is not a good enough reason to stand in the way of military readiness. The back-and-forth has turned into an awkward referendum on supporting the military and supporting the already vulnerable water source. If the proposal is still considered a threat to the aquifer, said Downing, “then there’ll be no commitment of federal funds that will be allowed.” Public comments on the proposal will be accepted through June 26, after which the agency will begin finalizing recommendations. “The EPA’s view is a preventative approach is reasonable and warranted because of decades of environmental impacts that have already damaged the Cape Cod aquifer,” said Jane Downing, drinking water branch chief for the region.

“Even after a century of small arms activity, the United States Army Corps of Engineer studies have concluded that small levels ranges have not resulted in groundwater contamination above any action level.”īut the EPA, after 20 months of evaluating the proposal, concluded in its draft report that the construction, operation, maintenance, and use of the machine gun range have the potential to contaminate the aquifer that supplies more than 50 percent of the drinking water for the nearby region of Cape Cod. Over the training site’s history preparing soldiers since World War I, “small arms activity has resulted in countless millions of projectiles dispersed across the impact areas of the training site,” John Bagaglio, garrison commander of Camp Edwards at the joint base, said at the Wednesday night hearing.

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