Sand Mining Giant AD Makepeace Co. Misrepresents Massive Mine Expansion at 59 Federal Road As Necessary For More Cranberry Bogs
Exposes Environmental Justice Neighborhoods to Carcinogenic Silica Sand Dust, Dangerous Trucks, Noise, Vibration & Deforestation
“My community is being invaded by toxics and my town representatives are not taking my life and the lives of my neighbors into consideration.”
Cranberry Village resident, Carver Zoning Board of Appeals
Above: 59 Federal Road, Carver, MA View from Cranberry Village on 6/15/24
Mining operations cover 2.1 square miles in Environmental Justice neighborhood
A.D. Makepeace has been mining in South Carver for decades. Its mines cover at least 2.1 square miles. Year after year it gets new permits from the Town of Carver to keep mining under the false pretense of cranberry agriculture. The Town officials are complicit and committing fraud. The fraud becomes more obvious every day that goes by and the bogs aren’t built. Hundreds of tractor trailer trucks carry off sand and gravel every day.
The second largest single mine in the state is underway at 59 Federal Road in Carver. Makepeace started this mine without a permit. It is expanding a 50 acre mine that it started in 2016 under the false pretense of putting in a solar project. It never got a permit to mine for the solar project, claiming it was exempt from the Earth Removal Bylaw because the sand would be used for “cranberry agriculture.” Then in 2020 the ERC gave Makepeace a fraudulent permit to expand around the solar project and mine 85 acres. The 85 acre mine is about half done.
In Fall, 2024, Makepeace filed an application to expand the 85 acre mine at 59 Federal Road, Carver.
The public hearing for the new application opened on Oct, 1st, 2024 The Earth Removal Committee meeting on October 1st reviewed the permit application from A.D Makepeace, seeking approval for earth removal off Federal Road, on Map 131, Lots 1-3.
During the public hearing, Linda Jacobs, a resident of Cranberry Village, urged local leaders to consider a moratorium on sand mining. “I don’t have anything dramatic to say; I’m actually here to ask for a moratorium on the sand mining so that it can be studied—not just the Earth removal plans, but the whole operation of sand mining and how it’s affecting our area, the wildlife, the waters, and the people who live here,” she stated.
Jacobs expressed deep concerns about the environmental impact, noting, “It’s just an enormous operation… it’s a wasteland.” She described the unsettling experience of living near the mine: “It’s loud… there’s humming and beeping… I think about all the creatures that are being dug up and the aquifer that’s threatened.”
The public hearing will continue on November 5th, 2024.
The state has never required an environmental study or any measures to protect the environment or people from this mining. There are protections in place for the sensitive habitats surrounding the site, the community, or the underground Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer that supplies drinking water to seven towns including Carver. Makepeace mines directly into the aquifer, creating pathways for contamination. The excavation has also removed critical layers of soil, gravel, and sand which naturally filter contaminants and protect the aquifer. This project has significantly altered the landscape and habitat at the site and exposed nearby residents to silica sand dust, vibrations, and noise.
Impact to Environmental Justice Neighborhood
Most of south Carver is an Environmental Justice communities. Cranberry Village and Pine Tree Village are specifically identified as environmental justice neighborhoods directly adjacent to the project at 59 Federal Road. Environmental justice communities are populations disproportionately affected by environmental hazards and are designated for higher levels of protection than other communities.
Currently, there are no enforced protections for these communities to mitigate the impacts from this site, such as carcinogenic silica sand dust and contamination of drinking water wells. Residents report they cannot open their windows, turn on their air conditions or be outside on windy days because of the air borne carcinogenic silica blowing from the mines. They report breathing problems, COPD and health issues that have developed in the last several years since Makepeace has expanded its mining.
Below: Map of Environmental Justice communities in Carver. Blue represents Makepeace’s sand mining site at 59 Federal Road. The yellow areas two EJ neighborhoods that directly abut Makepeace’s 59 Federal Road mining site.
Above: Drone Footage showing AD Makepeace mining site at 59 Federal Road abutting Cranberry Village, a mobile home park and Environmental Justice community. Residents have sand covering their homes and cars, cannot leave their neighborhood without encountering dangerous truck traffic that is incessant, and can feel vibrations from mining operations.
In the last few years, Cranberry Village are seeing Makepeace’s forest clearcutting progressing ever closer to their homes and property lines. Phases 3 and 4 of the 85-acre mining project are currently underway, getting to residents in Cranberry Village. Trees are being lost and wildlife habitat destroyed. Makepeace’s mining at 59 Federal Road and in the 2.1 square mile area around the neighborhood is exposing residents to silica sand dust, noise, and vibrations generated by the ongoing projects and the trucking operations of Read Custom Soils at 46 Federal Road.
Above: Map showing Environmental Justice communities in proximity to the sand mining site at 59 Federal Road, Carver, MA. The blue dot indicated the mining site at 59 Federal Road, Carver MA. The two yellow dots indicate the individual Environmental Justice communities and the red dot indicates phase 3&4 shown on the site plans submitted by A.D.Makepeace for further expansion of the project.
Makepeace’s Phase 3 project at 59 Federal Road will excavate 872,700 cubic yards of sand and gravel worth about $10 million. Phase 4 will excavate an additional 406,500 cubic yards of sand and gravel. The total of 1,279,200 cubic yards of sand and gravel is worth over $15 million. The entire 85 acre project is 4 million cubic yards worth about $60 million. Impact to Drinking Water
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t think I could afford water being piped in from another town.. Alot of people like Carver because we have well water. And we want to protect our water”.
–Cranberry Village resident at Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing on 5/29/2024 on petition to shut down Makepeace’s Read Custom Soils trucking terminal on Federal Road.
Mining sand and gravel threatens the underground drinking water aquifer according to experts. The entire town of Carver falls within a Water Resource Protection District governed by zoning bylaws intended to safeguard the drinking water. It is crucial that these regulations are strictly enforced.
According to expert testimony from Scott Horsley, a world renown hydrologist, Makepeace has mined so much sand and gravel at 59 Federal Road that it has eliminated filtration protection for the drinking water aquifer. Horsley states,
“significantly excavated to depths minimizing depth to groundwater, effectively eliminating the naturally occurring pollutant attenuation capacity associated with soils above the groundwater. The elimination of the filtration capacity of the soils above the water table could have a detrimental effect on the quality of drinking water within the wellhead protection areas.”
No government regulator has made Makepeace study the impacts of its massive mines on water quality. Clearcutting the forests significantly reduces the rate of evapotranspiration—a critical process in the water cycle that contributes 15% of atmospheric water vapor. Without sufficient water vapor, clouds cannot form, and precipitation would decrease, ultimately lowering recharge rates for our aquifer.
Horsley warns that Makepeace’s mining in this location will
“result in significant alterations to these recharge rates and to the hydrologic regime of the wetland.”
Town officials refuse to protect residents
“ I hope that we aren’t just going to pretend that these things aren’t happening down there, because they are and I think most of us know that.”
Carver resident Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing, 5/29/24
Residents have brought their concerns to Town officials for years.. One resident explained
“It’s just extremely upsetting to me that the town seems to, as the woman said before me, favor big business over human beings.”
This sentiment reflects ongoing dissatisfaction with the town’s repeated approval of projects by A.D. Makepeace and its failure to enforce bylaws meant to protect the community.
Another resident voiced a desire for more balanced attention from the town, stating, “I wish the town would pay as much attention to projects that impact our community’s wellbeing as they do to debating the zoning of business signs”.
Take Action!
Attend the Carver Earth Removal Committee
Public Hearing on Makepeace
mining expansion permit
Nov 3rd, 2024 at 3 p.m.
Carver Town Hall, Main Street
Read more here and campaign to shut down Read Custom Soils
Click Here to Write a Letter to the Building Inspector About the Noise and Dust Violations
SEND A COMPLAINT TO CARVER:
Open the link and add in your own name and address, and any details you would like to include.
Download the file and send it to the building inspector, Rod Palmer, here.