Coalition Visits Massachusetts State House to Stop Sand Mining, Protect Trees and Forests

On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, ten members of a statewide coalition advocated for better protection for forests and urban trees, and a moratorium on sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts, at the offices of lawmakers at the Massachusetts State House. The coalition members represented both Community Land and Water Coalition and the Trees as a Public Good Network, both statewide grassroots organizations focused on ending unregulated sand mining and gaining better protection for trees and forests in the Commonwealth.

Community Land and Water Coalition members spoke with both lawmakers and their staff about the personal and health impacts of sand mining on their lives in Southeastern Massachusetts, and the potential harms to drinking water and the environment from this unregulated activity. CLWC members are advocating for the passage of two house bills this session:

• House Bill 918 Click here “An Act protecting drinking water and public health from sand mining pollution.” This bill calls for a 6-member advisory panel to study the effects of sand mining on drinking water, environmental justice communities, climate change mitigation and resiliency, and air pollution.

• House Bill 948 Click here “An Act to protect the public health, safety and welfare including but not limited to the drinking water supply in Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer, designated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 1990” calls for a one-year moratorium on sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts.

You can watch the full hearing on the two bills before the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on June 3, where 35 coalition members testified in favor of these bills.

Members of the Trees as a Public Good Network advocated for a host of forest and tree related bills, which you can find below.

• Protecting forests:  H.952, H.953, H.1048,H.3559/S.2296, H. 3548/S.2287, H.3549/S.2288, H.918, H.948
• Expanding and protecting urban tree canopies:H.1013/S.553, H.2322/S.1429, H.1316
  
• Factsheets of all the bills are here: https://tinyurl.com/TreesPG-factsheets
• The petition to support these bills is here: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/preserve-expand-ma-trees-to-reduce-droughts-heat Please consider signing the petition!

There will be another state house education event later this summer. Contact CLWC if you would like to join us at the State House, or get involved in efforts to regulate sand mining.