Entrance to Joint Base Cape Cod The Massachusetts Army National Guard has secured a key federal environmental approval that potentially puts it one step away from building a machine gun range on Joint Base Cape Cod, CAI has learned. The Guard plans to announce the milestone Wednesday. The only remaining regulatory hurdle for the range is a state environmental review. In an email sent to members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, local Guard officials say the federal National Guard Bureau has signed off on a report that finds the proposed eight-lane range would have "no significant" environmental impacts. The proposed range includes a plan to reduce the environmental impacts of the project by instituting four-to-one mitigation ratio, meaning that four acres would be preserved on the base for every one acre impacted. This would include an expansion of the Crane Wildlife Management Area just south of the base through a direct land transfer of 260 acres.