The Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Rebecca Tepper says the Airport’s “Draft Environmental Impact Report” “adequately and properly” complies with the state’s environmental study law, MEPA. The next step is for the Airport to do a “Final Environmental Impact Report.”
The public’s comments submitted to the state made a difference!
The Airport has to do more study of the drinking water aquifer and how the Airport could impact water.
Attend AirportCommissioner’s Meetings.
Next meeting March 7, 2024 at 7 p.m. at the Airport
Drinking water Will Airport expansion harm our drinking water? Section 4.2 of the study says drinking water wells are “not affected”. The study does not give enough information about this conclusion.
The Town’s 2019 draft water system master plan says the Airport “is located adjacent to the Zone II area [protection area] for the Federal Furnace Well and could be a potential source for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).”
PFAS is a type of chemical that causes health problems, including cancer.
The Town’s 2019 draft water system master plan says we should be doing more to protect our wells: “Considering how susceptible the [Town’s] sources are to contamination; it is recommended that a more stringent groundwater protection district be developed.”
Private drinking water wells may also be impacted
Air pollution The study used an air station in Boston to conclude that air pollution is not a problem. The Airport must test current air pollution near the Airport and guarantee that the fumes from the Airport are not harming people now or in the future.
Rochester Road: 44 acres, thousands of arsenic treated poles for 6,291 solar panels, lithium ion batteries in cranberry bog; earth removal nearby
Tremont Street: 57 acres, thousands of arsenic treated poles for 12,393 solar panels & lithium ion batteries in cranberry bog
Video October, 2021
340 Tremont St., Carver MA: Confirmed site of CCA-treated poles for solar, PineGate Renewables. The property may have been sold to PineGate Renewables.
September 6, 2022: Carver resident responds to the Carver Conservation Commission’s motion to dismiss her action as an abutter asking that the Conservation Commission enforce wetlands rules and address the harms caused by cancer-causing arsenic treated wooden poles on nearby cranberry bogs
July 2022: Toxic poles contaminated with Copper Chromated Arsenate are being pulled from the Rochester Road site in Carver. Does this toxin remain in the ground or water after they are removed?
April 2022: Lawsuit update: Town files incomplete record omits records of site visits where Conservation Commission approved arsenic poles
On January 14, 2022, a homeowner abutting PineGate’s dual use solar project using arsenic treated timber poles sued the Carver Conservation Commission and PineGate Renewables. The lawsuit demands transparency and accountability from the Carver Conservation Commission. The public should not have to sue to get a straight answer and information about this crisis situation. PineGate admits arsenic is leaching into the soil. It will migrate to the groundwater. Instead of following the law, the Conservation Commission is fighting the lawsuit. It was required submit the entire record, all the documents, to the court for its review. Instead it omitted key documents.
Get the records and PineGate’s “studies” on the toxic poles here.
The January 14, 2022 lawsuit alleges the Carver Conservation Commission violated the Wetlands Protection Act TWICE:
1st in spring 2021 when it gave PineGate permission to replace the steel poles with arsenic timber poles, and
2d in fall 2021 it allowed PineGate to replace the arsenic poles with concrete.
These were two substantial changes to the project. They required a new permit application each time. They required a public hearing and a chance for public input. There should have been full and complete disclosure of PineGate’s studies of the impacts of the arsenic poles on soil, groundwater and cranberries. Instead, the Conservation Commission hid this information.
About 3,500 arsenic-treated wood poles have been driven into the Sole Source Aquifer and wetland cranberry bogs in Carver and Rochester to mount solar panels. PineGate has the poles at two locations: Rochester Road and Tremont Street. The lawsuit concerns only the Rochester Road site.
Dual use solar is called an “experiment” by Iain Ward, cranberry industry consultant and PineGate. PineGate obtained Carver planning board and conservation commission approval for steel poles in 2019. No state permits were required although the Department of Energy Resources issued a “statement of qualifications” for the project. oles.
In Fall, 2021, public outcry against the arsenic poles forced the Conservation Commission to act. Grassroots activists exposed the threats to public health, water and cranberry crops from PineGate’s copper-chromated arsenic poles PineGate. With a wink and a nod and another closed door deal, the Carver Conservation Commission issued an order allowing PineGate to change the plans a second time– this time proposing to replace all 3,400 arsenic poles with concrete poles.The Conservation Commission violated the Wetlands Protection Act and Town Bylaw a second time.
The deal to replace the arsenic poles was a big win for the Pull the Poles grassroots campaign — but, the Town and PineGate refused to provide sampling result information or any details about how the replacement operation will occur, wetland impacts from the concrete poles and the results of PineGate’s water and soil sampling for arsenic. The law requires a full permit application for the concrete poles and a public hearing.
www.pullthepoles.org A grassroots campaign to protect our water from arsenic treated solar poles.=
The state’s SMART solar program gives additional subsidies for ground mounted solar on farm land. Some would say using arsenic poles for a “green” renewable energy project is not so “SMART”. Many say dual use “agrovoltaics” especially when combined with lithium ion batteries is a bad deal for our food systems and our farmland.
CCA toxic poles waiting to be installed at PineGate Renewables solar site at 340 Tremont Street, Carver MA, Sept. 2021
Events
July 31, 2019: Carver Conservation Commission issues Wetlands Order of Conditions.
Sept. 24, 2019: Carver Planning Board approval of site plan and special permt.
Dec. 22, 2020: Beals & Thomas construction plans submitted to the Planning Board show solar mounted on steel posts. Page 16 of the PDF.
On December 23, 2020 PineGate emailed the “Carver Permitting Department/Building Commissioner” to report on “minor updates” to the project. This included a “transition from I-Beams helical piles to timber piles.” The Public Records don’t show any response from the Planning Board, Building Commissioner or Conservation Commission in response to the email. On page 59 of the PDF. The Beals+Thomas construction plans do not say this.
Nov. 17, 2021: CCA – arsenic treated poles, Pine Gate Renewables dual use solar site, cranberry bog, 340 Tremont Street, Carver MA
February 23, 2021 Building Inspector issues Building Permit.
February 24, 2021, a letter to the Town says PineGate has taken over the project, calling it Solar Carver 1 LLC and Solar Carver 3 LLC. PDF page 51.
Spring 2021: Conservation Commission members Germain, Moore with Beals and Thomas and Monroe, Conservation Agent, tour the site, CCA poles are on site. They approve replacing steel poles with CCA timber poles
Summer, Fall 2021: Public outcry about CCA poles being installed along Route 58 and next to homes.
November 2021: Conservation Commission allows PineGate to replace CCA poles with concrete poles.
January 2022: Abutter to Rochester Road site sues Conservation Commission and PineGate for violations of the Wetlands Protection Act.
March/April 2022: Conservation Commission sends letter to DOER saying speed up the review process.
April 2022: Town of Carver Conservation Commission files “administrative record” that will form the basis for the evidence in the lawsuit. The record is incomplete. See a copy here.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.png00CLwpBShttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngCLwpBS2022-01-11 21:31:002025-12-30 17:07:00Carver: PineGate’s “dual use” arsenic solar panel poles
