Machine Gun Range

Last October, a secretive high-level meeting was held to review the environmental impacts of a controversial proposal for a machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod. Now, the release of a 65-page meeting transcript offers a first glimpse into what happened behind closed doors.

The payment will settle a public records battle between the Guard and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod over a failed plan to build a machine gun range at Joint Base Cape Cod.

For more than a dozen years, the Massachusetts Army National Guard has been fighting to build a machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod. But in the past month, the project seems to have collapsed. So how did that happen, is it really over — and what happens next?

The Guard needed to spend $9.7 million from Congress on the range by Sept. 30, but with Healey's decision, Guard officials will be forced to watch the money expire.

Activists and local officials are urging the Governor to intervene in the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s plan to build the range before a building contract is awarded.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Massachusetts Army National Guard plan to gather with experts this fall to discuss potential impacts of a proposed machine gun range to the Sagamore lens, a major aquifer that provides drinking water to the Upper Cape.

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod has filed a complaint with Suffolk Superior Court, saying the Massachusetts Army National Guard has ignored nine Freedom of Information Act requests. The group wants to know why the guard repeatedly sought contractor bids for building a range while still lacking critical state approval for the project.

The Massachusetts Army National Guard’s ad, which ran in the Cape Cod Times on Friday, July 19, calls for a contractor that can build a three-lane shooting range — despite earlier plans to build an eight-lane range.

Speaking to CAI, Senator Elizabeth Warren said she “guarantees” the Environmental Protection Agency will be able to finish its efforts to study the effects of a proposed machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod before any money is allotted for its construction.

"My position has always been that we need to follow the science. The EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] is currently working to determine the environmental impact of a proposed machine gun range project at Camp Edwards — a review that I requested to safeguard Cape Cod's sole-source aquifer,” Warren said in a statement. “I oppose any effort to move forward with the gun range until the EPA reaches its final determination, including extending authorities in the annual defense policy bill."