Petition Seeks Immediate Action to Protect Drinking Water, Native American Archeological Sites, Residents, Biodiversity and Forests
Contact:
Meg Sheehan, Coordinator
Community Land & Water Coalition
Tel. 508-259-9154
communitylandwatercoalition@gmail.com
Boston, Massachusetts – A network of community groups and Wampanoag Native American leaders delivered a petition to Governor Healey for an immediate moratorium on sand and gravel mining in Southeastern Massachusetts.
Sand and gravel mining threatens the region’s drinking water supply, according to a recent report, Sand Wars in Cranberry Country: An Investigation into the Money, Politics and Corruption Behind Sand Mining and its Silent Environmental Crisis in Southeastern Massachusetts. According to experts, mining the sand of the Plymouth-Carver sole source aquifer removes the trees, vegetation, and earth materials, lowering the elevation and changing the topography, altering the hydrology and water quality of the aquifer. It strips away the filtration system protecting the water in the aquifer.
There are 110 mining sites in the region; new ones are discovered and investigated every week. Over 2,600 acres of land have been and are being mined without regulatory oversight, and with permits that are rubber-stamped at local town halls. The Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General is investigating possible fraud in the municipal regulation of sand mining in Carver, Massachusetts, and other towns.
Sand is the second most extracted resource on earth by volume after water. There is a worldwide shortage. Southeastern Massachusetts is ground zero in the global sand wars. Huge profits are driving the exploitation.
Melissa (Harding) Ferretti, Chairwoman of the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, said in a statement, the Tribe “stands to oppose the devastating impacts of sand and gravel mining in Plymouth and throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These activities not only threaten our drinking water but also desecrate sacred sites and ancestral homelands that hold profound spiritual and cultural significance for our people. For centuries, our ancestors have maintained a deep connection to this land, which is integral to our identity, traditions, and way of life. The destruction of these sacred sites is not just a loss of physical space but a severance of our ties to our heritage and ancestors. It is a violation of our rights and disrespects our cultural survival. Protecting our sacred sites is essential to preserving our history, culture, and the well-being of future generations.”
“We support any and all efforts to end the destructive sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts. Forests are being destroyed while sand is being hauled away, at a time when we should be protecting our valuable and natural resources. We call on Governor Healey to take action to protect these areas for biodiversity and as part of the climate solution,” said Janet Sinclair of Save Massachusetts Forests.
“We demand immediate state action on this issue,” said coordinator Meg Sheehan, a volunteer attorney from Plymouth for Community Land & Water Coalition. “Our land is being hauled off in hundreds of tractor trailer trucks a day. Neighborhoods and our waterways are covered with carcinogenic silica sand. Companies are mining in the Sole Source Aquifer which is against the law. It is shocking that in a progressive and “green” state like Massachusetts our leaders are allowing this,” Sheehan said. “We are working hard at the local level to get municipal officials to enforce their laws, but we are up against a wall of corruption, profiteering, and self-dealing,” Sheehan said.
“Massachusetts sand mining is stripping away forests and habitats, eroding soil, polluting watersheds, and spewing toxic dust into the air,” said Michael Kellett, executive director of RESTORE: The North Woods. “This is worsening climate change, devastating wildlife, and harming public health. We need to protect our intact forests and open space, not allow selfish developers to liquidate them for short-term profit.”
Read the State House News Service coverage of the event here:
The groups will deliver the sand mining petition to the Select Boards of the Towns of Plymouth, Carver, Halifax and Wareham, where local officials are complicit in the unregulated mining operations, such as the massive mine on Route 3 South in Plymouth, which is excavating in the Sole Source Aquifer. CLWC will be making presentations throughout the region about the environmental crisis of sand mining.
“We really need the State’s help. I live in Carver, and I’m driving around all the time in my community, and the trucks are everywhere. Big trucks on every road, hauling away the sand from our aquifer,” said Mary Dormer, Carver resident and member of Carver Concerned Citizens.
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