Conservation efforts require constant vigilance. Unlike the developer who wins when their project is completed, those of us interested in the protection of natural resources can never rest because our battle is never over. The land we protect and the air and water we clean remain, almost by definition, an attractive target for private exploitation. While there are some safeguards offered to public land under Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution, a large amount of publicly-owned land does not benefit from these protections and is in the crosshairs of developers looking for places to build. Towns are under increasing pressure to turn public lands over for development and that trend is only likely to get worse.
Even lands with Article 97 protections remain under threat; the biggest and most recent example came with an admission by representatives of the Massachusetts National Guard just this month. In a refreshing moment of candor, the Guard revealed under questioning at a Citizens Advisory Council meeting that it intends on continuing to pursue the construction of a multipurpose machine gun range on Article 97 lands at Joint Base Cape Cod. While the Guard’s previous decade-long pursuit of this project ended in September of 2024, our respite appears brief.
The same is true as Holtec continues to eye Cape Cod Bay as a disposal site for its wastewater from the decommissioning of the Pilgrim nuclear plant. Again, just this past week under questioning at the meeting of the public oversight panel, Holtec admitted that its already extended schedule for commencing final clean-up of the facility in 2031 is predicated on overturning the denial of its permit to discharge. The appeal of further despoiling the public resource of Cape Cod Bay for profit is too great for Holtec to plan to dispose of the contaminated wastewater in a more responsible, and legal, manner.
Nationally, there is talk of selling public lands for private development, reopening ocean sanctuaries to exploitation, and weakening regulatory standards to make it easier to use public spaces, long thought to be protected, for waste disposal and increased air and water emissions. Taken together, these local and national examples are evidence of the insatiable hunger to use, exploit and degrade public resources for purposes counter to their highest and best use as conservation lands that support the environmental quality upon which we all rely.
The point here is that those of us concerned with the preservation of our natural world can never rest. We must be ready to win the next battle while remaining ever mindful of looking over our shoulders to maintain the gains we have made in the past. Collectively, our work is not done and it never will be. APCC is in it for the long haul and we need you to be as well.
