After filing not one, but two public records requests under the Massachusetts Public Records law and then having to appeal to the Secretary of the Commonwealth to compel full disclosure, APCC finally and belatedly received records from the Massachusetts National Guard that contained emails from Brigadier General Christopher Faux, Joint Base Cape Cod executive director, which expressed concern that the proposed multipurpose machine gun range could not sustain the scrutiny of a full environmental study, and if it was required, the Guard “will most likely lose the project and its funding.”
Pardon the pun, but these illegally withheld records are the smoking gun that reveal, in the Guard’s own words, what we suspected all along. The Guard was afraid of a full Environmental Impact Study. It is not much of a leap then to see why the Guard ignored legitimate public comments and concerns on their internal Environmental Assessment; doing so was the only way to avoid a full EIS. Given how the Guard’s own statements lay bare their abuse of, and disregard for, the public’s right to participate in the protection of its sole source of drinking water, it is obvious why the Guard would not want the public to see these emails.
But try as they might to prevent it, we have seen the emails and the next step is obvious and clear. Given how tainted this project review has been, given the blatant disregard for the legitimate public concerns raised, given the obvious manipulation of the public review process, and given the highly inappropriate denigration and name calling by the Guard of the public that took the time to exercise their First Amendment right to comment on the merits of the project, further consideration of the proposed range expansion must stop.
Now is the time for the Baker administration to cancel this project to both protect the Upper Cape water supply and to restore faith in the integrity of public process. Add your voice by clicking here to email the governor directly.
