Plymouth: AD Makepece Co. Solar Site Subject of CLF Violations Notice

BREAKING NEWS: Conservation Law Foundation announces intent to sue AD Makepeace Co. for wetlands violations in Plymouth

June 18, 2026:

AD Makepeace’s wetlands filling at the “Canning Bogs” in southwest Plymouth are the subject of a notice of intent to sue by Conservation Law Foundation. Read CLF’s letter here.

Excerpt from CLF’s letter:

The Canning Bogs Site is within a parcel of land identified by the Town of Plymouth Assessor as Map/Lot 126-000-007-003. The Site formerly contained a perennial stream that flowed through the Bogs and into the Wankinco River. The wetlands were also connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay. The wetlands, perennial stream, and rivers are all waters of the United States A.D. Makepeace discharged dredged or fill material into perennial streams and wetlands at the Site. A.D. Makepeace altered streams by dredging and filling them. A.D. Makepeace dammed the Wankinco River by installing flume/weir devices. A.D. Makepeace also dredged, filled, and altered associated wetlands connected to the Wareham River and Buzzards Bay between May 2015 and January 2021. Upon information and belief, A.D. Makepeace did not obtain an individual permit from USACE to discharge dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States at the Canning Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.

Background

A.D. Makepeace Cranberry Co. of Wareham MA proposes  two miles of solar panel canopies installed over agricultural canals adjacent to its bogs in South Plymouth.  Makepeace used to call these the Carverside bogs. It renamed Canning Bogs recently. The bogs are in a globally rare biodiversity hotspot surveyed and inventoried by the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program in about 2003.  Here is the company’s  September 18, 2023 Press Release.

Plymouth and MassDEP Turn a Blind Eye to the Wetlands Violations Wetlands Permit Appeal

Since at least 2022,  CLWC  advocated for the Plymouth Conservation Commission, Board of Health, and MassDEP to take action on these violations. Instead of investigating and applying the law, the Conservation Commission and MassDEP  granted  Makepeace and the solar developer a  wetlands permit for 2 miles of industrial solar panels and battery storage on filled and altered wetlands and streams.  See the permit here:  Wetlands Order of Conditions 57-3343  The Commission granted waivers and variances from the Plymouth Wetlands Protective Bylaw. This was wrong. The Planning Board also rubber stamped this project.

On February 20, 2024, CLWC appealed the Plymouth Conservation Commission permit to the Mass DEP. The appeal is here. Wetlands Appeal and Exhibits. 

On preliminary motions, MassDEP sided with Makepeace, ignoring evidence of wetlands filling.

Now, CLF is taking Makepeace to federal court for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

March 2024: State requires MEPA Environmental Study

Makepeace must include the solar project it tis MEPA review for the adjacent 54 acre solar project at 0 Tihonet Road in Wareham (“North Wareham Solar”. In March, 2024, the state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs issued a MEPA certificate on the environmental study for the North Wareham Solar project. It requires the Canning Solar project in Plymouth to be studied for the cumulative Damage to the Environment. Read more here.

The new Canning solar and North Wareham solar projects are in addition to three proposed in Wareham, one already built nearby and others in Carver. In total Makepeace has destroyed hundreds of acres of forests for at least 15 large ground mounted solar projects. This includes clearing forests to create “farmland” for dual use solar at Swan Holt bogs in Carver. These areas are surrounded by Makepeace’s proposed and ongoing sand mining operations.

About the Canning Bog Site: History of Waste Dumping and Mining

The Canning bogs where the canal solar is proposed was historically traditional cranberry bogs, probably created in the mid 1900s. This involved draining, diking and diverting wetlands and streams.  Starting in 2010, Makepeace started to mine the upland around the old Carverside bogs for sand and gravel.  This included mining in the aquifer. Makepeace claimed the mining was necessary to “square off” the old style irregular shaped bogs to make them rectangular and efficient. After mining, Makepeace filled in the hole created by the mining with debris that appears to be stumps and tree logs. Eyewitnesses say Makepeace also dumped sewage sludge in the pits.  Today cranberry bogs cover the pits.  A Google Earth Pro chronology is below.

Satellite image above shows about 89 acres of bogs and mining as of 2012. Google Earth Pro.

Carverside bogs, 2021 as shown by MassMapper GIS map. Colored areas depict wetlands and streams.

There is no known earth removal or permit for Makepeace’s mining at the Carverside bogs. Burying wood and operating a dump here harms the environment. In 2022, CLWC reported this to the Town of Plymouth Board of Health. There has been no response. See the report here.

CLWC has also asked the MassDEP Environmental Strike Force to investigate. Here: Request for Environmental Investigation

Who is “Renewable Energy Development Partners” and What Have They Done?

REDP consists of former Makepeace real estate executives Hank Ouimet and Tom Melehan. The two plied their knowledge of local real estate obtained while working for Makepeace to get land for large development projects such as industrial solar. Once they get the local solar permits, REDP sells them to Wall Street investors. Makepeace and REDP are both responsible for disastrous and some say fraudulent solar projects throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.

These projects include:

• In Wareham, Makepeace, REDP and Beals+Thomas are responsible for strip mining a  biodiversity hotspot and Priority Habitat on Charlotte Furnace Road. The project is now a 50-acre solar site.
• In Carver at the Swan Holt bog site, REDP and Makepeace started installing copper chromated arsenic wood poles in wetlands to mount solar panels. They only stopped when there was public outrage.  They replaced the poles with metal. Now there is about 1 mile of solar on a stream. With Beals + Thomas the companies clear cut and strip mined about 12 acres of forest to create “farmland” to get state SMART solar subsidies for “dual use” agricultural solar. The SMART program incentivized this strip mining and deforestation.
• In Plymouth in 2016, REDP obliterated about 25 acres of pristine forest in the Herring River ACEC and on a known Wampanoag area for large solar. Then REDP flipped the project to a “renewable energy” venture capital fund.
• In Carver on Gate Street REDP installed solar shortly after the area was strip mined.  In about 2021, Hank Ouimet admitted in a public hearing that even though this was “agricultural solar” the company had no “agriculture” under the panels as required by the SMART solar regulations.
• In Rochester, REDP installed a dual use solar project on a bog and admitted it had no farm plan yet sought SMART solar subsidies.