-
Carver, MA is a sand mining hub where companies are supposed to be regulated by the Earth Removal Committee (ERC)
-
Continuing investigation reveals current ERC Scott Hannula connected to the sand mining and trucking industry
Overview
Sand mining in Carver is supposed to be regulated by the Earth Removal Committee. The ERC is dominated by the cranberry industry that conducts sand and gravel mining under the pretense of “agriculture” claiming they are building bogs and ponds. This is a ruse to evade local and state laws. Read more here.
After the long time chair , a cranberry grower conducting sand mining, resigned in 2022 the Selectboard appointed more cranberry growers, trucking companies and sand mining operators to the ERC. In August, 2023, long time sand mining operator, sand trucking company operator and cranberry grower Scott Hannula was named to the ERC as its chair — as “Industry Representative.”
This blog identifies the many ties Hannula has to the cranberry, trucking and sand mining industry — the very industry he is supposed to regulate as chair of the ERC. These ties are documented below show that Hannula cannot be objective in implementing the Carver Earth Removal Bylaw. The public is calling for Hannula’s resignation.
Scott Hannula and sand mining, Rochester Road, Carver
Scott Hannula is the sole officer and director of Scott A. Hannula Cranberry and treasurer and director of Oiva Hannula & Sons, Inc. Both companies own cranberry bogs in Carver MA. Source: Massachusetts Secretary of State, Corporations Division.
In 2010, Scott Hannula applied to the Carver ERC for an earth removal permit for Oiva Hannula & Sons. The ERC granted the permit. See the permit here: ERC Permit 2010 to Oiva Hannula & Sons
While his company was mining, Scott Hannula signed company reports to the ERC from 2010 to 2022. See the records here. Example of Oiva Hannula reports to ERC, 2022
Oiva Hannula’s ERC mining permit expired in 2015 but they kept mining as shown by the ERC reports and receipts, until at least July, 2022. One year later, in August 2023, Scott Hannula joined the ERC and was elected Chair.
Below: January 2022. Trucks lined up in the early morning at the Oiva Hannula & Sons sand mine in Carver. Eight months later Scott Hannula became Chair of the Committee that granted his company permits to conduct the mining. The Committee allowed Hannula to operate with an expired permit for over 7 years.
While Scott Hannula was overseeing the mining at Oiva Hannula & Son’s Rocheseter Road mine, he did business with various trucking companies. This includes New England Recycling/G.Lopes Construction and John Shurtleff, a member of the ERC that granted Hannula the permit. Hannula also did business with Ryco Excavating according to the ERC records.
Although the ERC initially granted Hannula the permit for 344,805 cubic yards of sand and gravel removal at Rochester Road, there is no independent verification of how much was removed during the decade long mining operation.
The Sand Wars report gives a summary of Hannula’s mining on Rochester Road.
In about 2022, Hannula owed at least $46,400.00 to the Town of Carver in permit fees. It is unclear whether the fees were paid.
Scott Hannula mining for Decas/Fruit d’Or, Mayflower Road, Carver
In 2016, Scott Hannula represented Decas Cranberry in applying for a permit from the ERC for mining on Mayflower Road. At first, in March 2016, the permit wasfor 125,000 cubic yards. Then on July 17, 2017 the ERC granted Hannula and Decas permission for another 40,000 cubic yards, and then on August 7, 2017, the ERC said the volume was “not to exceed 240,000 cubic yards. There is no independent verification of how much Decas Cranberry, Hannula and Ryco Excavating mined from the Mayflower Road site.
See the ERC’s 2016 minutes here where Hannula represents the sand mining operation here: Mayflower Rd. Mar. 2016 Hannula & Ryco
In 2024, Fruit d’Or, the new owner of the Decas Cranberry Mayflower Road site applied to the ERC for a massive permit for 640,000 cubic yards.
This permit application does not meet the state or local standards for sand mining. Scott Hannula will be responsible for overseeing the years long permit. He cannot serve both Fruit d’Or and the ERC. He must resign. See Fact Sheet to STOP THE FRUIT ‘d OR MINE at 0 Mayflower Road, Carver here
Below: July, 2024: Area of expanded new Hannula/Ryco Mine, Mayflower Rd., Carver. Blue area is 10 acres of forest Hannula/Ryco and Fruit d’Or plan to level and mine for years. Green is the trucking route.
Scott Hannula mining for Morse Bros. in Halifax, MA
Oiva Hannula has a $530,000 contract with Morse Brothers a company that claims to be a cranberry company. Morse Brothers has been mining at a site on Monponsett Pond in Halifax for a decade. Hannula has been running the mine with Ryco Excavating.
In July 2024, the Town of Halifax issued a cease and desist effectively to Scott Hannula who was doing the mining with Ryco Excavating. It also levied a $30,000 penalty. Read more here.
On March 13, 2024 when Hannula was mining at this site, there was a diesel oil spill into Monponsett Pond. The oil leaked from mining equipment. See the state environmental spill report here. In May, 2024 Scott Hannula submitted a clean-up report to the state effectively taking responsibility for the spill. See the state documents here.
Below: Dec. 2022, Halifax MA, truck route for Hannula and Ryco mining operation on Monponsett Pond. Mine and truck route are in Environmental Justice neighborhood.
Oiva Hannula trucking sand for
AD Makepeace Co. /Read Custom Soils
In March, 2023, Oiva Hannula & Sons, Scott Hannula’s company, trucked sand for AD Makepeace from Carver to Plymouth Beach under a state contract. A few months later, in August 2023, Scott Hannula was appointed to the ERC. AD Makepeace has “earth removal permits” for massive amounts of sand and gravel mining that Hannula is responsible for overseeing and monitoring. Read more here.
In February, 2024, the ERC granted Makepeace a new permit for $15 million in sand and gravel. Scott Hannula signed the permit as a member of the ERC. See the permit here: Carver ERC Feb 2024 Permit to AD Makepeace
Above: Oiva Hannula & Sons trucking sand for AD Makepeace. In 2023, AD Makepeace made a closed door deal with the ERC to get exempted from the Bylaw to haul sand to Plymouth Beach without paying fees or getting a permit. This March 23, 2023 photo shows Scott Hannula’s company, Oiva Hannula & Sons, hauling sand from Read Custom Soils in Carver to Plymouth Beach for a beach nourishment project. Read more about that here.
Scott Hannula’s ties to Haseotes Sand & Gravel
ADGA Realty Co.
In 2023/2024 Hannula was involved with ADGA/Haseotis Sand and Gravel operating mines on Indian Street, Carver and admitted he had a conflict of interest.
Haseotes Sand and Gravel and related entities are the subject of a request for enforcement submitted to the ERC for unpermitted sand mining in Carver at numerous locations since 2010. This mining is ongoing. At a January 31, 2024 meeting, the ERC, with Mr. Hannula as chair, was forced to address a request for investigation to ERC from the Conservation Commission regarding Haseotes-ADGA possible unpermitted mining. The ERC found no violation but failed to provide any credible evidence. Hannula does business with Haseotes. This includes doing work on Haseotes’ bogs in Plympton while on the ERC. This is established by photographic evidence and eye witness testimony (available on request).
At the ERC meeting in January, 2024, Hannula left the room claiming a conflict of interest but would not explain why. Representatives of Haseotes were at the meeting claiming the mining was agriculture.
Scott Hannula votes on fees for sand mining companies he has ties with, approves plan for G. Lopes Construction
Ever since he joined the ERC in August 2023, Hannula has taken actions that benefit the sand and gravel mining industry that he works for and oversees. He voted on fees that impact the companies he works for and with — AD Makepeace, Fruit d’Or, Ryco Excavating, Haseotis Sand & Gravel and more. See Hannula’s vote on the ERC fees here.
In July, 2024, Hannula signed a permit decision for G. Lopes Construction for the Meadow Street site. As documented by the Oiva Hannula & Sons reports to the ERC signed by Scott Hannula, he has a long history of doing business with G. Lopes Construction. See the form here. Hannula Signs ERC Approval for G. Lopes Construction, 2024
Find out more
A shady network of truck and mining companies exploits legal loopholes in order to obtain permits for profitable sand and gravel mining throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. Read more in Sand Wars in Cranberry Country.
A citizen led investigation into the network began to shine the light on the industry in 2021. Almost immediately, three long time members of the Carver Earth Removal Committee resigned, including John Garretson, III who chaired the Committee for decades, John Shurtleff who trucked sand and gravel for companies he permitted, and Robert Ieronimo the successor chair to Ieronimo. Read more about corruption in Cranberry Country and sand and gravel mining here.
The Carver Selectboard is ultimately responsible for these appointments and also has improper ties to the cranberry and trucking industry. AD Makepeace Cranberry Co. and its subsidiary Read Custom Soils, LLC a major sand mining business, funds municipal projects for the Towns of Carver, Plymouth and Wareham.
Sand mining industry under investigation by state OIG
Read more here