For decades, Carver residents have dealt with sand blowing onto their homes, yards, cars, streets, and neighborhoods, while expressing concerns about their drinking water and public health to state and local officials for years.
February 17, 2026: Community stands up to 10 years of sand mining at 59 Federal Road in residential neighborhoods
CLWC, researchers and residents document cumulative impacts to environment, health impacts from Silica Dust and harms to residents
In January, 2025, the Carver ERC considered issuing a cease and desist for sand mine at 59 Federal Rd. then backs down — allows business as usual, while residents are exposed to Respirable Crystalline Silica, dust, noise and unsafe road conditions.
Below: AD Makepeace mining operation, December 2025, 59 Federal Road, Carver MA. Exposed groundwater is visible in the lower right and middle left. Vast areas of Carver Loamy Course Soil, a source of Respirable Silica Dust, are visible. View the drone footage of December 2025 here.
Makepeace’s 2024 proposed expansion for more “cranberry agriculture” at 59 Federal Road, Carver
In 2024, AD Makepeace applied to the ERC to expand the massive 85 acre mine at 59 Federal Road, including dredging in the Aquifer. The plans are on hold, according to Makepeace.
Below: Makepeace proposed expansion, 2024.
Makepeace’s proposed expansion at 59 Federal Road will be 650 feet from residential drinking water wells; GAF Engineering relies 30-year-old report to claim mining won’t harm wells
Makepeace withdrew plans after public hearing, but continues mining 85 acre site, below.
Above: June 15, 2024: 59 Federal Road, Carver, MA. The Cranberry Village neighborhood is at the bottom of the picture. In 2024, Makepeace filed a permit application to expand the mine to the southwest. As of May 2025, it has been withdrawn. The mining began in about 2016 with the clearing of land and mining sand and gravel for the solar project seen in the top of the photo. Read more about the solar project here.
“I have attended almost every Earth Removal Committee meeting since 2021. I have heard every cranberry company, trucking company and the Earth Removal Commitee members misrepresent massive sand mining projects as “cranberry agriculture” or “subdivisions.” These are half-truths and part of a coordinated effort to strategically misrepresent sand mining to evade local bylaws.”
-Attorney Meg Sheehan, CLWC
“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. It’s just an enormous operation… it’s a wasteland. 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.”
-Linda Jacobs, neighbor and resident of Cranberry Village, Carver MA
“ 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.”
“It’s just extremely upsetting to me that the town seems to, as the woman said before me, favor big business over human beings.”
“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”.
Carver residents at Zoning Board of Appeals public hearing, 5/29/24
Impacts to drinking water, no study ever done!
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t think I could afford water being piped in from another town.. A lot 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.
Residents in South Carver are a ground zero for AD Makepeace’s industrial scale sand mining. The mining is getting ever closer to homes.
Read Custom Soils, 46 Federal Road, trucking depot for AD Makepeace sand mining operations
Read Custom Soils, Makepeace’s sand distribution operation, is across from Cranberry Village at 46 Federal Road. Read more about Read Custom Soils here.
Environmental Justice neighborhoods
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: AD Makepeace mining site at 59 Federal Road abutting Cranberry Village to the right. Sand covers homes and cars, vibrations from tree clearing and mining shake homes, dangerous truck traffic threatens safety.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/sand_1.jpg6161200CLwpBShttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngCLwpBS2026-08-24 01:19:172026-08-23 13:45:5259 Federal Road, Carver MA: A.D. Makepeace Continues Mining, Residents Say Enough is Enough
A.D. Makepeace is one of the largest private landowners in Massachusetts, with extensive
holdings primarily in Plymouth, Carver, and Wareham, and Rochester. It owns about 12,000 acres. Historically, the company’s business was cranberry agriculture. Since the 1990s, Makepeace has expanded and operates across multiple industries, including:
Cranberry Production
Engineered Soil Products– Read Custom Soils (RCS)
Sand and Gravel Extraction
Large-scale Solar Development
Residential Development– Redbrook project in Plymouth (about 1,200 homes) and
Rosebrook business park in Wareham
Motto: “Inspired by Nature”
This combination of land ownership and vertically integrated operations positions Makepeace to
control the full lifecycle of land use—from clearing to extraction to redevelopment.
A.D. Makepeace’s operations represent a significant transformation of Southeastern Massachusetts landscapes.
The rapid land use changes — from agriculture and forestry to industrial scale sand and gravel extraction, vast solar facilities and development raises significcant questions for the community:
How should cumulative impacts be evaluated?
Is the current use consistent with the intent of the Tihonet Mixed Use Development (TMUD) plan from 2005 — a promise of smart growth, open space protection and village centers?
What level of oversight is appropriate for projects of this scale? Where is the oversight? Who is in charge?
These issues continue to be debated in courts, town boards, and communities across the region.
Cranberries: The Historical Core — No Longer the Profit Driver
A.D. Makepeace is still:
the largest cranberry grower in the world
farming about 1,750 acres of bogs across southeastern Massachusetts according to its
website
However, the economics of cranberry farming have changed dramatically in the last 30 years:
The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture has described cranberry farming as a
“beleaguered industry”
Prices have declined significantly in recent years while costs have risen
Industry-wide, cranberry growing is often:
low-margin or break-even
dependent on subsidies and market volatility
every fall, excess production and low prices results in dumping a percent of the harvest
Even regional officials acknowledge cranberry growing “isn’t a booming industry.”
The Shift: From Farming to Resource Extraction
Because cranberry farming alone is no longer highly profitable:
Makepeace has shifted toward resource extraction of timber, soils and sand off its land, and commercial and residential development:
Tens of millions of cubic yards of sand have been removed across hundreds of acres of its lands and
Sand mining continues today
The company now generates significant revenue from sand sales through its
subsidiary, Read Custom Soils
Extraction of timber and topsoils is used to blend with the sand for commercial sale
Makepeace now derives at least 70% of its revenue from non-cranberry activities and all its profits, according to public sources
The Integrated Revenue Model
Step 1: Cranberry Agriculture (Entry Point)
Land is classified as:
Agricultural
This classification can:
Enable earth removal permits — commerical sand mining is often permitted as “bog construction”
or “reservoir creation” or claimed to be for sanding the bogs
Reduce regulatory scrutiny under the Wetlands Protection Act, municipal wetland bylaws, the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act, and historic preservation laws
Reduce real estate taxes: agricultural or forestry land has a lower tax rate allowing Makepeace to pay minimal real estate taxes
Step 2: Sand Mining (Primary Profit Engine)
Sand removal has surged in the last 10 years.
Multiple operations centered in south Carver and Wareham generate 100s hundreds of truckloads per day with multi-year excavation permits
Rising sand prices and demand make extraction far more profitable than farming
Dozens of permits in the last 30 years, hundreds of acres
Looking ahead:
In September 2024, ADM Cranberry filed a Carver Earth Removal Application for Map 131 Lots 1-2 and 1-3, west of Federal Road, seeking removal of 1,776,200 cubic yards over 3 years plus 1 year renewal. The application is on hold but likely will be reactivated. Read more on the ERC Site.
In April 2026, ADM Cranberry filed new plans for continued expansion of the 85 acre “bog construction” and sand mining project at 59 Federal Road in Carver
The “Farm of the Future” earth removal permit at Frogfoot in Plymouth is on hold, only about 25% complete but certainly Makepeace has plans to generate revenue here. Read more here:
Makepeace does not just sell raw sand.
Through its subsidiary Read Custom Soils (RCS):
Sand arrives from nearby deposits or quarry
Screening / sorting
separates sizes (fine, medium, coarse)
Stockpiling
large sand piles staged on site
Soil “blending and manufacturing: Sand, topsoils, and wood products from AD Makepeace’s land clearing are,
screened
blended
engineered
Products include:
golf course materials
construction aggregates
stormwater and structural soils
This converts raw sand and topsoils into higher-margin specialty products — Makepeace claims this is an “agricultural blending facility”
RCS acts as:
a regional distribution hub and trucking terminal to weigh and transship sand, aggregates and its soil products
fed by Makepeace land clearing/logging and mining sites around the region
Step 4: Trucking and Distribution
Hundreds of trucks move material daily from Makepeace’s lands and directly to customers or through Read
Sand and “soil products” shipped across New England
This represents a continuous cash flow from extracted materials
Step 5: Solar Development (Second Revenue Layer)
After trees and topsoil are removed and the land stripped to bare sand:
Land is flattened and cleared
Then leased for:
large-scale solar installations (~20-year leases)
Solar companies override local control: Makepeace has built at least 12 large ground mounted solar projects in the area already
In 2023, the Wareham Planning Board denied Makepeace and Borrego Solar extensions
for the 3 new projects, based on the public health, safety and welfare, including the
cumulative impact. Makepeace through the solar company sued the Town of Wareham to force them to issue the permits. Then, the Town and the solar company settled behind closed doors and permits were issued in 2025
The 3 new solar projects are:
27 Charge Pond Road — Case 7-20, decision dated October 20, 2020
150 Tihonet Road — Case 9-20, decision dated December 28, 2020
140 Tihonet Road — Case 8-20, decision dated March 8, 2021.
Official Wareham records also show that by 2025 the Town was still in litigation over some of
these projects. The joint Select Board / Planning Board executive-session agenda for October 8,
2025 lists litigation involving 27 CPR Solar1, LLC, New Leaf Energy, Inc., Wareham PV1,
LLC, and Wareham MA 3 LLC. A later Planning Board executive-session agenda on
December 10, 2025 lists PV1, LLC v. Town of Wareham Planning Board and MA 3 LLC, et
al v. Town of Wareham Planning Board.
Looking ahead:
Makepeace conducting aggressive land clearing and sand mining at 0 Maple Springs Road in Wareham: Proposing a solar project under the shell name “OMSR Wareham Solar 1, LLC .” There are active Conservation/ZBA solar + battery filings in 2025.
Makepeace seeking permits for a large solar project at 0 Wareham Road, Carver – will clear cut 27 acres of forest. Project is in project in Riverfront Area, wetland buffer zone, and that will clear-cut 27 acres of forest. Appeal process at MassDEP/
Wihonet Road, Plymouth, Frogfoot Brook and trails area: CLWC appeals
Makepeace plan to install solar project on about 40 acres of illegally filled
wetlands. The location is also called the Canning Bogs.
O Golden Pond Road: sand mining, wetlands filling without permits, Carver issues Cease and Desist
North Wareham Solar: Makepeace and its affiliate REDP seeking to clear-cut 50 acres for a large ground-mounted solar project along Tihonet Road, north of the 160 Tihonet Road solar project
This land use model with solar creates:
long-term, steady income
on land already monetized through logging and mining
does not generate power that helps local rate payers, but rather produces energy that is
sold throughout New England while local communities bear the burden of deforestation
and risks to drinking water supply
Step 6: Final Development — Land Sales:, Redbrook and Beyond
After logging, sand mining extraction and sales, comes solar development or done in parallel, Makepeace develops residential and commercial projects
Example: Redbrook (Plymouth, MA) Master-planned village developed by Makepeace
Includes:
housing
commercial space
infrastructure
The TMUD Connection
The Tihonet Mixed Use Development (TMUD):
~6,500-acre master plan from the early 2000s
Spans Plymouth, Carver, Wareham
Does not include Redbrook which is under a different MEPA review
Originally intended for:
smart growth
mixed-use development
conservation
approved through a special MEPA (state environmental) review process
did not require full “EIR”; review for 12 solar projects from 2014 to present long-term buildout
a “ bait and switch ” from the original TMUD plan — MEPA let Makepeace out of the MEPA review process in 2022
12 solar projects covered in the TMUD, ADM released from MEPA 2022:
9 complete, 3 underway
Solar and sand mining projects not covered by TMUD MEPA Certificate or any MEPA review:
Maple Springs Solar, Wareham
Cranebrook Solar, Cranberry Road, Carver
0 Wareham St. Solar, Carver
Canning Solar, Plymouth (Frogfoot area)
All sand mining projects in Carver, Plymouth and Wareham are not covered by ANY MEPA REVIEW
Why This Model Is So Powerful
Same land generates revenue multiple times
Lands are stripped of all value, leaving barren wastelands
Land acquisition cost = zero (already owned)
Vertical integration = maximum control
Result:
Continuous, compounding income stream at the expense of biodiversity, habitat, cooling
shade, clean air, clean water
Oversight Concerns
Agricultural exemptions exploited:
Mining permitted under “cranberry agriculture”
Wetlands Protection Act exemptions for “Normal Improvement of Land in Agricultural Use” to evade permits
Tax preferences for agriculural land exploited
Fragmented permitting:
Mining, solar, development reviewed separately
No cumulative review
Impacts not assessed as one system
Environmental risks
Threats to:
Plymouth-Carver aquifer
Pine Barrens ecosystems
Community health from emissions of sand dust
Conclusion
A.D. Makepeace’s operations are no longer just agriculture — despite its image. They represent a fully integrated land monetization system where:
Cranberry farming provides the legal and historical foundation
Sand extraction generates immediate profits
Read Custom Soils adds value and scale
Solar leases provide steady income
Sevelopments like Redbrook deliver long-term returns
The public: left with a denuded wasteland — sand mines are barren lands where “nothing much will grow in human time” and no upside from solar, rapid development that strains infrastructure, undermines rural Southeatsern Massachusettts character
The result is a multi-layered, continuous revenue model built on the same land base.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot-2026-03-18-at-9.53.22-PM.png15521266Katherine Harrelsonhttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngKatherine Harrelson2026-04-01 16:01:342026-08-04 13:08:19A.D. Makepeace Co.’s Land Use Model: Cranberries, Sand, Solar, Residential/Commercial Development
June 18, 2026 BREAKING NEWS: Conservation Law Foundation announces intent to sue AD Makepeace Co. for wetlands violations in Plymouth
AD Makepeace’s wetlands filling at the Wankinko Bogs in Carver at 46 Federal Road 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 Wankinko Bogs Site is within an approximately 538-acre parcel identified by the Town of
Carver Assessor as Map 131, Lot 2-4. The wetlands at the Site included a perennial stream that connected to the Wankinco River. The Wankinco River flows through Tihonet Pond and into the Wareham River. These waters constitute waters of the United States. A.D. Makepeace engaged in commercial sand and gravel mining at the Wankinko Bogs Site since 2011. In doing so, it has strip-mined or plans to strip-mine approximately 60 acres of wetlands. Between June 2012 and May 2015, A.D. Makepeace filled the perennial stream, permanently eliminating it. The discharged dredged or fill material remains in place. A.D. Makepeace also entirely filled portions of the wetlands in order to build trucking roads to facilitate its mining operations.
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 Wankinko Bogs Site, nor did it obtain coverage under a general permit.
MAY 2026: MassDEP judge says AD Makepeace violates state Wetlands Protection Act by mining without a valid permit; mischaracterizes sand and gravel as “agriculture”
On May 12, 2026, a MassDEP Presiding Officer found ADM Cranberry conducted sand mining in a wetland buffer zone in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act while an appeal was pending. The judge also found AD Makepeace’s project was not “agriculture” for purposes of the wetlands law, but commercial and agricultural. This sets a major precedent for all the region’s sand mines that claim their sand mining is “agriculture.” The judge found Makepeace must comply with the state stormwater rules. Read the Decision here:
Decision was in response to CLWC appeal of Town of Carver wetlands permit to allow AD Makepeace mining expansion
In May 2024 the Earth Removal Committee gave AD Makepeace its 13th sand mining for “cranberry agriculture” since 2003
Earth Removal Committee admits bogs not built in 20 years, issues permit anyway
Residents suffer from noise, dust, excessive truck traffic, threats to drinking water wells
Above: April, 2025. AD Makepeace Co. sand mining operation at 46 Federal Road, Carver, MA. The mine started in 2011 and has continued expanding since. As of 2025 it covers about 60 acres. The company claims it is building cranberry bogs. This claim is used to evade local land use laws. See the drone footage here.
May, 2024: Town of Carver issues 13th sand mining permit to AD Makepeace Co.
In March, 2024, the Town of Carver Earth Removal Committee (ERC) granted AD Makepeace Co. the 5th sand mining permit for 46 Federal Road. The mine has been operating since 2011. Today the mine covers about 60 acres. Makepeace claims mining 60 acres is necessary to build 23 acres of bogs. At this location, Makepeace has mined sand worth at least $60 million in sand according to recent price information. The cranberry bogs are not built and it has not harvested one cranberry in 14 years of mining.
The ERC issued the “earth removal” permits under the claim that the mining is “necessary” to level the land for a cranberry bog and “incidental” to using the land for agriculture. It is not. Makepeace uses the sand and gravel to supply is its commercial aggregate business Read Custom Soils located on the same site.
The ground-breaking investigative report Sand Wars in Cranberry Country explains how AD Makepeace and other cranberry companies evade the laws to get sand mining permits.
For the 2024 Earth Removal Bylaw permit application Makepeace recycled old plans from 2011 called “Cranberry Bog Development and Earth Removal Plan.”
This site is one of seven Makepeace mining sites in the south Carver area.
Local residents challenged the May 2024 earth removal permit for 46 Federal Road in court. They exercised their rights under the law to protect their health, homes and their environment including their drinking water. See lawsuithere.
A court dismissed the case on “standing” grounds saying the residents are not harmed. Those living in Cranberry Village, a mobile home park, know better. The mining is happening over the Carver aquifer protective district. The mining threatens drinking water according to world renown expert Scott Horsley. The mining exposes the Environmental Justice community to sand dust, excessive noise, and diesel emissions from incessant trucks.
Town ERC sided with Makepeace in getting the case dismiss — ignoring the rights of its own residents to be free from harm from sand mining.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.png00Meg Sheehanhttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngMeg Sheehan2025-05-29 13:37:252026-07-19 17:42:47Carver: AD Makepeace expands mine at 46 Federal Road
CLWC takes legal action, demands Carver Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) issue a cease and desist to shut down AD Makepeace Co. Read sand trucking terminal
CLWC responds to Carver ZBA arguments at May 29, 2024 public hearing: You’re Wrong! Read the July 9, 2024 letter here.
CLWC fights to enforce laws on behalf of residents, environment
CLWC’s lawyers and scientists are working to get justice for residents and stop the environmental destruction by AD Makepeace’s sand mining. This trucking hub is the key to Makepeace’s sand sales. This facility does not have the required zoning permit from the Carver Planning Board.
CLWC is using the zoning laws to shut down Read. Here are the steps:
On February 22, 2024, CLWC demanded that the Carver Building Commissioner issue a cease and desist order to stop Read from operating a “Truck and Freight” terminal without the Special Permit. The CLWC demand letter is here.
The Building Commissioner refused to issue a cease and desist to Read. CLWC estimates Read generates up to 500 truck trips daily. The Building Commissioner did not investigate the issue of truck traffic volume.
On March 12, 2024 CLWC appealed to the ZBA under the state Zoning Law and the Town Zoning Bylaw. See the appeal here.
On May 22, 2024 CLWC requested the ZBA enforce their bylaws and issue a cease and desist at 46 Federal rd. Read the request here.
The hearing on CLWC’s enforcement request started on May 29, 2024 and continues July 17, 2024.
Carver Officials Ignore Years of Harms Suffered by Local Residents, Damage to Environment
Makepeace uses Read as a truck and freight terminal to sell and distribute sand it mines from its surround land. T
For a decade or more, Carver residents living near sand mining sites and who are impacted by truck traffic, noise and vibrations from mining operations have written, emails, and called state and local officials. They attend meetings of the Earth Removal Committee, Planning Board, Conservation Commission and Select Board to tell them about harms from the mining and trucking of sand and gravel abutting their homes.
Below: May, 2024: Massive AD Makepeace Co. 120 acre sand mine abutting Environmental Justice Community on Federal Road in Carver. This mine supplies Read Custom Soils with sand for commercial sale and distribution.
ZBA biased, sides with mining company over its own residents
During the May 29, 2024 public hearing on whether the ZBA should shut down Read, the ZBA was more concerned about protecting the interests of AD Makepeace Co., the owner of Read, rather than protecting residents’ health and well being
ZBA tried to dismiss the case on legal technicalities; this tactic is commonly used to deter residents from participating in the public process.
ZBA prevented Community Land and Water Coalition from presenting its slides, cut off residents as they spoke, and told residents that they had already spoken on this issue when they had not.
ZBA delayed its decision on the shut down until July 17, leaving residents to deal with the noise, vibrations and threat to drinking water for two more months.
The state law requires the ZBA to hold a public hearing on a request for enforcement of the zoning law. The ZBA must vote on whether there is a violation. CLWC has asked the ZBA to issue the cease and desist to Read. The first day of the ZBA public hearing was May 29, 2024. Watch the hearing here.
The ZBA chair argued with the lawyer for CLWC claiming the group had no legal right to bring the appeal. In a July 9, 2024 letter CLWC’s lawyer showed this is wrong. Read the letter here.
https://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/825CE4B5-B7E5-409B-8169-F4DD92B336BD_1_105_c.jpeg6361236Meg Sheehanhttps://communitylandandwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FINAL-CLWC-LOGO-no-background-297x300.pngMeg Sheehan2024-07-10 19:36:492025-12-29 16:31:53Carver: Legal Efforts to Shut Down AD Makepeace Co. Sand Trucking Hub: Read Custom Soils
Efforts are underway to shut the AD Makepeace Co. sand distribution hub at 46 Federal Road, Carver MA. Read more about our legal efforts here.
Group says Read violates local zoning laws
AD Makepeace Co. mines its lands to supply Read, its sales and distribution company
Below: Read Custom Soils, 46 Federal Road, Carver MA.
AD Makepeace owns and operates a regional sand and gravel distribution hub. Hundreds of trucks daily leave the site loaded with sand and gravel. In just a few hours in 2021, the public documented 258 sand and gravel trucks entering and exiting Read — that’s easily 500 trucks. Watch the video here.
Below: View of Read Custom Soils “soil blending” facility, 46 Federal Road, Carver MA
July 2023.
About AD Makepeace Co. & Read Custom Soils
AD Makepeace Cranberry Co., based in Wareham MA, claims to be the world’s largest cranberry grower and Massachusetts’ largest landowner. It owns about 12,000 acres of land in Southeastern Massachusetts. About 1,750 acres are used for cranberry agriculture. It derives most of its revenue from extracting and selling sand extracted from its lands. For decades, the cranberry industry has been a break even business at best. The Massachusetts Department of Agriculture calls cranberry farming a “beleaguered industry.” AD Makepeace mines for profits, not cranberry farming.
To evade local laws, cranberry companies claim their sand and gravel mining is “cranberry agriculture” and exempt from regulation. Find out more here.
Visit SandWars.org to see the groundbreaking Report: Sand Wars in Cranberry County: An investigation into the money, politics and corruption behind sand mining and its silent environmental crisis in Southeastern Massachusetts. Watch the video here.
AD Makepeace Co. profits from selling its “endless reserves” of sand
The core of Makepeace’s mining operations is about 2 square miles in the Carver-Wareham area on Federal Road. Watch the 2022 video for an overview of operations in the area.
Read operates on a portion of a large parcel of Makepeace land, about 536 acres that has a large cranberry bog on it. The Wankinko River runs through the bogs on the property. Because there is a bog on the large site, Makepeace claims the operation of Read and the mining is “cranberry agriculture” and exempt from local laws.
Makepeace strip mines its land around Read and brings the sand and gravel to Read to be distributed and sold. The map below shows AD Makepeace strip mine sites around Read within a 2 mile radius before in 2010 and as of 2023. These are just some of Makepeace’s sites. The trucks coming in and out of Read come from these sites and others in Southeastern Massachusetts.
This drone video shows Makepeace’s mining around Read. Between 2010 and 2024, Makepeace has strip mined up to 1,000 acres in the region for sand and gravel.
Below: 2010 Map showing AD Makepeace sand mines within 2 miles of Read. The areas are forested as of 2010.
Above: This is a Map of the same 2 mile radius in 2023. The strip mined areas are marked with a pin. Some are covered up with cranberry bogs.
Above: 59 Federal Road, Carver MA, May 2024. 120 acre sand mine underway since 2016.
Above: AD Makepeace sand mine. 59 Federal Road in Carver, May 2024.
AD Makepeace clears forest to access sand. In 2020, the Carver Earth Removal Committee gave AD Makepeace a permit to expand the mine by 85 acres to access $36 million in sand and gravel.
Above: 24 Federal Road in Carver MA, before mining. In 2019 the Carver Earth Removal Committee gave a permit to level the land by 40 feet and dig a pond.
Above: After AD Makepeace mining, July 2023. Over 24 acres of mining and dredging the Sole Source Aquifer for sand to supply Read Custom Soils. A former member of the Carver Earth Removal Committee, John Shurtleff, Jr. who operates a trucking company, was observed trucking sand from this site. Makepeace is mining at this site to supply sand to Read.
Impact of Read’s truck traffic: dangerous and uncontrolled
For over a decade, the public has watched hundreds of trucks come in and out of Read daily. The volume of trucks is documented by videos and personal testimonials. Makepeace claims Read is a “manufacturing facility. A manufacturing facility does not have hundreds of tractor trailer trucks entering and leaving daily. Read’s trucks travel on interstate roads to deliver sand and gravel.
The operation causes dangerous traffic conditions on Federal Road and along the truck routes in Carver, Wareham and Plymouth. Federal Road is owned by the County and is a narrow rural road.
Here are some public documenting the excessive truck traffic from Read’s trucking hub:
This video shows 258 trucks coming in and out of Read in just a few hours in 2021.
This video shows 106 trucks in 14 minutes coming in and out of Read.
In 2021, a sand and gravel tractor trailer flipped over on Federal Road coming from Read. Listen to this police report of how the sand and gravel truck almost killed a resident and his granddaughter because it was going so fast before it flipped.
Makepeace’s own truck logs show hundreds of trucks a day (logs available on request)
A court affidavit from a Wareham resident describes the hundreds of trucks a day leaving Read and Makepeace’s mines on Federal Road.
Below: Sand and gravel truck from Read flipped over on Federal Road, 2021.
The trucks coming to and from Read go one of two ways to get to the highways to deliver sand: going south on Federal Road through Wareham to Route 25 or west on Cranberry Road to Route 58.
These are narrow country roads. Traveling them presents a safety risk when tractor trailers of sand are speeding by. The truck routes go through Environmental Justice communities in Carver and Wareham.
Below: July 2, 2024: Read Custom Soils truck on Interstate 495 hauling sand and gravel from the Pine Barrens..
“This is agriculture?!” says a local resident.
The Carver Earth Removal Committee is allowing commercial mining around Read. There are 3 permits for mining pits in the area. Each permit allows 50 truck loads a day. Read more about Makepeace’s earth removal permits here.
In April, 2024, the Carver Earth Removal Committee approved expansion of the 120 acre mine at 59 Federal Road. Read more about this mine here.
This adds up to about 530,000 truck trips over 10 years — and that’s assuming Makepeace sticks to the law. There are even more trucks associated with Read. No one knows the actual number of trucks coming in and out of Read but it is alot!
Read more about the Carver Earth Removal Committee here. It is dominated by people who make money from sand and gravel mining or who buy sand from AD Makepeace.
All this trucking and sales of sand and gravel is just “cranberry agriculture”?
AD Makepeace claims that all this sand mining and Read’s trucking business is just “cranberry agriculture.” Watch here as the Makepeace CEO and President Jim Kane try to explain to the Carver Zoning Board of Appeals in September 2021 why after 20 years of mining at 46 Federal Road, Carver the cranberry bogs still are not built.
Impacts of sand mining: air pollution from carcinogenic silica sand dust
The Town of Carver and the state Department of Environmental Protection ignore the public’s written, formal complaints about the emissions of sand from silica mines in Carver and the surrounding area.
Impacts of AD Makepeace Co. sand mining on Environmental Justice Communities
Read is located in the heart of an Environmental Justice community. The Environmental Justice Community is shown in green on the map below.
An environmental justice community is one that is marginalized and overburdened with environmental pollution according to the state. Governor Healey has an office of Environmental Justice and Equity. The office is:
committed to ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of all environmental and energy benefits and burdens. We work with all agencies under the Secretary to ensure every policy and program is designed with equity at the center, ensuring all voices are heard and all voices are shaping the solutions. We are working hard to ensure there is meaningful engagement in all processes, resulting in more equitable public policies.
The Governor and the Office have done nothing to protect the EJ community from Makepeace’s strip mining and trucking operations.
Impact of AD Makepeace sand mining on public and private drinking water
Makepeace’s sand and gravel mining harms the environment, including our drinking water. Read what the experts say here.
The sand and gravel that filter and protect underground drinking water wells are being removed. The Read trucking terminal is located over the Water Protection District in Carver, the Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer, and near well protection zones for private and public wells. The trucking business has resulted in over 500,000 truckloads of sand and gravel being shipped off site.
Drinking water wells threatened says expert hydrologist. In 2022, CLWC went to court to try to stop Makepeace’s sand mining. World recognized hydrologist Scott W. Horsley testified that the mining operations at and around Read threaten drinking water. Figure 2 below is from Horsley’s court testimony. “Site 1” is the location of Read. “Site 2” is the 120 acre mining operation next to Cranberry Village. Read more here.
State subsidizes “cranberry companies” making millions from sand mining
According to the company’s CEO Jim Kane, Makepeace Cranberry Co. cannot survive without revenues from sand and gravel mining and sales. Kane states that Makepeace employs 60 independent trucking companies to transport sand and gravel to at least 10 asphalt and concrete manufacturers across New England, as well as other industrial and commercial customers, and some cranberry bogs. See Kane’s affidavit here: Affidavit of J. Kane
Below: MDAR website explains how taxpayer funds are used to subsidize companies like AD Makepeace whose primary source of revenue is sand mining.
Find statistics on the cranberry industry here. Since the early 2000s, Makepeace has earned its revenue primarily from sand mining rather than cranberry agriculture. They established Read Custom Soils on Federal Road in Carver to sell, ship, and distribute sand and gravel. Read is known as the largest supplier of sand and gravel in the Northeastern United States.
Other “cranberry” companies have also collected subsidies for sand and gravel mining. Read more about how North Weston Cranberry Co. in Carver MA collected state grants for a sand mining site.
Gov. Healey, local officials refuse to protect public and environment from sand mining
Local government corruption
CLWC’s campaign against sand mining targets local and state officials. It demands that they protect the environment from Makepeace’s sand mining activities. However, these officials refuse to do their job; they side with Makepeace and corrupt Carver officials, allowing sand mining to continue.
Read more about “Cranberry Country Corruption” in Southeastern Massachusetts and what some call the “sand mafia” here. Town officials give out permits for sand mining under false pretenses and in violation of the law. The state Inspector General is investigating corruption and sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts. Read more in the Sand Wars Report.
State allows sand mining to evade environmental review
State agencies cover up for the sand mining industry and turn a blind eye to the environmental and public health impacts of these mines. The state has never required a full environmental impact study of the impact of Makepeace’s strip mining and trucking operations.
For example, in 2012 and in 2022, Makepeace’s development of its lands had to go through an environmental review. The state rubber stamped Read as an “agricultural project”. It never reviewed the environmental impacts of the sand mining operation. All reports are available upon request: environmentmentwatchsoutheasternma@gmail.com
The 2012 and 2022 environmental reviews were related to Read’s location in the “Tihonet Mixed Use Development” area on Makepeace’s vast land holdings. Find out more about Makepeace’s “TMUD” development here.
Above: In its 2012 environmental notice to the state Makepeace and Beals+Thomas stated the “Project Type” for Read Custom Soils operation on Federal Road was “Agricultural.” Does this look like an agricultural operation?
Makepeace reported to the state that Read would be located at 46 Federal Road in Carver to have easy access to the sand deposits to the east in Plymouth. This is the Plymouth – Frogfoot strip mine where Makepeace plans to extract 7 million cubic yards of sand and gravel. Falsely portraying the Plymouth mining operation as “agriculture” Makepeace calls the Plymouth strip mine the “Farm of the Future”.
Even though Makepeace and Beals + Thomas always claim the strip mine projects are “agriculture” not one of the sand and gravel sales projects Read brags about on its website is “agricultural”. Instead there are golf courses, athletic fields, and urban roads. The “soil blending” operation is not for cranberry bogs as Makepeace misrepresented to MEPA.
In its 2022 MEPA filing (FEIR) Makepeace’s consultant Beals+Thomas admitted the Read “manufacturing” facility does not exist:
“The soil blending facility was originally proposed to include an office and work space building and associated parking, a covered bin and pallet storage area with an adjacent concrete mixing pad area, a finished material storage building and associated covered areas for blending and storage, a dry-sand storage structure and associated concrete pad for drying sand and a scale. Although the soil blending facility is currently operational, the previously proposed full build-out, which included several buildings totaling 34,450 sf, as well as a 67,140 sf open canopy roof system, has not been undertaken.” MEPA report Page 1-13.
In 2022, Makepeace defended its “agriculture” narrative by claiming that its aggregate mining was a natural extension of cranberry growing. Learn more about the state’s decision not to mandate an environmental impact statement for sand mining here.
Court Upholds Grassroots Group’s Case Against A. D. Makepeace Company in Sand Mining Case
September 22, 2025, Plymouth, Massachusetts. In a landmark decision on September 19, 2025, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled unanimously in favor of a grassroots group’s lawsuit to protect the environment from the devastating impacts of sand mining by A. D. Makepeace Co. of Wareham and its subsidiary, Read Custom SoilsLLC in Carver. The Court vacated the lower court’s dismissal of the case and allows the case to go to trial.
The grassroots group of individuals and Community Land & Water Coalition (formerly Save the Pine Barrens) filed the case in 2022 under the state’s powerful Citizen Suit Law to enforce the Town of Carver Earth Removal Bylaw. The Citizen Suit Law allows a group of ten residents to sue to prevent “damage to environment” when a person or company is violating an environmental law. The law requires that the group first give notice to the Attorney General and the government agency responsible for enforcing the law and if they do not act, the group can step in to enforce the law.
The grassroots group gave notice of the violations to Attorney General and the town but neither acted. The group stepped in to enforce the lawby filing the lawsuit in 2022. The lawsuit claims Makepeace is violating Earth Removal Bylaw by mining without valid permits and exploiting protections for legitimate cranberry agriculture to avoid prohibitions against sand mining. The Carver Earth Removal Committee granted permits year after year even though Makepeace did not build the cranberry bogs it showed on the permit plans. The Bylaw prohibits stand alone sand mines like the ones Makepeace is operating. The lawsuit claims actual or probable harm over a decade to the Commonwealth’s natural resources, including the Plymouth-Carver sole source aquifer, a vital drinking water source for the area.
A key quote from the Appeals Court highlights the environmental damage from sand mining:
“Land – earth – is a critical natural resource, and Carver regulates earth removal activity by bylaw to protect the use of that natural resource and to guard against the environmental effects of such uses. There can be little doubt that the systematic stripping of earth and topsoil — not to mention tree removal, leading to increased exposure to erosion — constitutes damage to “soil resources.”
“This ruling is a testament to the power of collective action in the fight to protect land and waters and for environmental justice,” said Attorney Meg Sheehan who represents the plaintiffs. “Other towns, such as Wareham, Halifax and Plymouth, have similar earth removal laws and the Court has reinforced the legal framework that empowers everyday people to advocate to protect our land and water.”
More information: The case name is Troy Currence and others vs. A.D. Makepeace Co. and others, Appeals Court case No. 24-P-666.www.communitylandandwater.org
Contact: Meg Sheehan, Attorney for Plaintiffs ecolawdefenders@protonmail.com
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Background
Since at least 2008, Makepeace has been operating a vast sand mine over about 2 square miles in Carver. In August, 2022, a More Than Ten Residents Group filed a lawsuit against AD Makepeace, its subsidiary, Read Custom Soils, and the Town of Carver Earth Removal Committee (ERC) under the state’s Citizen Suit Law for Damage to the Environment. The name of the case is Troy Currence and others v. AD Makepeace Co. and others.
Makepeace’s earth removal permits were conditioned on using the land for agriculture. The ERC kept granting Makepeace permits in 2011, 2017, 2019 and 2020 even though Makepeace hadn’t started planting the bogs shown in their permit plans. See the the permits and plans here.
As of 2025, the ERC is still going along with the ruse and siding with Makepeace and extending its permits. In 2022, AD Makepeace CEO told the Carver Zoning Board of Appeals the bogs were “underway”. Watch the You Tube.
The company has given the court no timetable for building the bogs, no schedule, no progress report or estimated time for completion. Here’s a short video of the sites.
In 2023, a Superior Court judge dismissed the case saying the law the case seeks to enforce, the Carver Bylaw, does not have as its purpose protection of the environment. The Bylaw says its purpose is to “protect the public health, safety and welfare.” Makepeace and the Town of Carver argue the law is to make earth removal easier. On June 12, 2024, the Group filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Appeals Court. On September 19, 2025, the Appeals Court sided with the Group and issued the Currence v. Makepeace Appeals Court Decision allowing the case to go ahead.
Below: AD Makepeace mining site on Federal Road, 2023.
The Location
The Citizen Suit lawsuit challenges A.D. Makepeace’s sand mining in south Carver. The entire area is designated as an Environmental Justice community — one already suffering more than its fair share of pollution.
Makepeace’s mining in the area covers 330 acres, about 2.1 square miles. It is divided up into six sites, shown below. The area is along both sides of Federal Road and between the Wankinko River to the east and the Weweantic River to the west. Makepeace uses the sand and gravel to supply its affiliate Read Custom Soils at 46 Federal Road. Read brags it is located in the heart of its “millions of cubic yards of sand reserves” and sells sand and gravel throughout New England.
The lawsuit aims to shut down the sand and gravel operations to prevent damage to the environment. Between 2011 and 2020, the Carver ERC gave Makepeace 4 permits to excavate and removal a total of 7.9 million cubic yards within the six-site area. The map below shows the mining locations challenged in the lawsuit. They are now sand mines and the land is cleared.
Site 1: 46 Federal Road: April, 2025: mining since 2008 with repeated permits even though bogs not built.
Site 2: 24 Federal Road: Town granted permit in 2019 for 19 acre “reservoir”
The construction of this surface reservoir will involve excavating 20 acres to a depth of 15 feet below the water table. The reservoir will be supplied by groundwater and is interconnected to our Sole Source Aquifer. Any chemicals or pesticides used on site will drain into the reservoir, ultimately contaminating the groundwater.
Site 3: 59 Federal Road: Town granted permit in 2020 for massive 4 million cubic yard mine over 85 acres.
In 2020, the Carver Earth Removal Committee (ERC) granted Makepeace a permit for 85 acres of sand mining and 4,045,000 cubic yards of sand. At about $16.25 dollars per cubic yard of sand, this project values at about $65,000,000 dollars.
In 2025, the ERC extended the permit, even though it is illegal because it was granted under the ruse of “cranberry agriculture”.
This is the largest single ongoing sand mining operation since the Town of Plymouth approved the permit for 7,000,000 cubic yards of sand to Makepeace in 2014 for the Frogfoot river mine. Read about ADM’s sand mining project at Frogfoot Brook here.
Sites 4, 5 and 6: Federal Road solar sites: between 2014 and 2024, Makepeace conducted sand mining and land clearing claiming it was using the sand for it cranberry farming. The company sold the sand commercially. It never obtained earth removal permits for these sites.
Makepeace mines the sand for sale via its Read Custom Soils business
Makepeace’s CEO admits that the sand mining is to supply industrial and commercial uses and that the cranberry company could not survive without profits from sand mining. The company supplies 12 concrete and asphalt companies, some cranberry companies, and numerous other customers throughout New England according to the Affidavit of CEO/President Jim Kane.
Above: From AD Makepeace website, October, 2022
Who is the Carver Earth Removal Committee?
Sand mining is regulated at the local level in Massachusetts. Municipal regulators like the Carver ERC are complicit in allowing this industry to cause damage to the environment because they do not apply the law the way it is written.
The ERC issued Makepeace four permits that are challenged in the lawsuit for earth removal at three of the sites. At the other three sites, Makepeace got no permits, claiming the sand and gravel was going to be used on its cranberry bogs for maintenance such as winter sanding. As of 2022, the ERC has ceased to function – it was always just window dressing. Members of the ERC have conflicts of interest – are in business with Makepeace, work for Makepeace or are in the cranberry industry themselves.
Threatening the underground drinking water Aquifer
One of the key concerns with sand mining is that it is being done in the Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer and in the Carver Water Resources Protection District.
The trees, vegetation and sand and gravel filter and protect the Aquifer, which serves 200,000 people with drinking water. It is vulnerable to contamination because the soils are permeable and pollution can travel easily. Groundwater in the area is already contaminated in some areas. The Group’s hydrology report states that the earth removal operations by AD Makepeace threaten private and public drinking water supplies nearby and has negative impacts on groundwater flow, rivers and forests.
In 2020, world renown hydrologist Scott. W. Horsley gave his expert opinion on Makepeace’s earth removal at the Federal Road sites. He states that there will be “significant alterations to the hydrology and water quality in downstream water resources. Additionally, it significantly increases the vulnerability of water resources due to the substantially reduced depth to groundwater.” Read his full report here.
Illegally conducting sand and gravel mining for eleven years at three sites with permits obtained from the ERC under the pretense of building cranberry bog projects and not building the cranberry projects.
The permits are expired – they were valid for one year unless extended and were not, and no permit can last longer than 5 years without a public hearing which was not done.
Conducting sand and gravel at three sites between 2017 and 2021 without permits.
The Group brought the lawsuit under General Laws Chapter 214, Section 7A, the state “Citizen Suit Statute”. This unique state law gives ten residents the right to sue to stop environmental violations when government authorities refuse to act. The Group sued the Carver Earth Removal Committee, a seven member committee responsible for preventing illegal earth removal in the Town. It can issue permits only under specific conditions. It failed to require Makepeace to meet the Bylaw conditions and is letting the company operate without permits.
On September 19, 2022, the Group filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking the Court to put a pause on Makepeace’s earth removal operations while damage to the environment is assessed and a forensic audit is completed.
Dec. 8, 2022: Superior Court Judge Buckley sides with Makepeace, turning a blind eye to the facts, supporting the corporate destruction of the environment and denies injunction.
2023: Superior Court grants Makepeace and Carver ERC motion to dismiss the case
Makepeace and the ERC claim the mining is agriculture. This allows Makepeace to exploit legal protections for legitimate cranberry agriculture. If they did not classify the mining as “agriculture” it would not be allowed under Carver’s earth removal bylaw.
Earth removal is prohibited in all Carver zoning districts without a permit from the ERC, unless exempted, which Makepeace’s is not. Makepeace’s land is zoned “agricultural-residential”. A landowner cannot do earth removal unless it shows it is for an agricultural or residential purpose, and then it has go by the Earth Removal Bylaws and qualify for a permit. When a landowner claims that the earth removal is to build an agricultural project like cranberry bogs, it must show the earth removal is “necessary and incidental” to the agricultural project. That means the land isn’t just being used for commercial mining, but the earth removal is “incidental” and minor in comparison to the agricultural project. These are strict criteria. Makepeace does not meet the criteria for the law because it is using the and for industrial scale sand and gravel mining, not agriculture — and its affidavits in court establish this.
The law on earth removal in Massachusetts is clear. “Incidental” means just that – its minor in relation to the primary use of the land. For example, your house is a residential use – you can’t build Disneyland and say it’s “incidental” to using your land for a home.
The state’s highest court, the Supreme Judicial Court, has strict criteria for what is an “incidental” land use. When a landowner claims they want to take sand and gravel off their agricultural land to build a bog for example, the court looks skeptically and carefully. It looks at how much money is the landowner going to make from sand and gravel vs. growing and selling cranberries. In a Plymouth case from 1991, the court found a 460,000 cubic yard earth removal operation in build a bog was not “incidental” but was a gravel operation, prohibited in the residential zone because it was a quarrying operation.
According to Makepeace’s numbers in Jim Kane’s affidavit, the company gets about 220 barrels of cranberries of each acre of bog. In 2021, cranberries sold for $39 per barrel. So, in the future, if Makepeace builds the bogs, they would make about $300,000.00 per year selling cranberries. Sand gravel revenues far outweigh growing cranberries.
Makepeace’s entire position, backed up by the Carver ERC, is that the industrial scale sand and gravel mining operations are only ancillary to agricultural operations when their own submissions to the Court show sand and gravel mining and sales is a massive and distinct business all its own – the sales and profits of which may exceed profits from selling cranberries.
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.pngCLwpBS2022-10-30 09:33:002025-12-29 16:36:12Carver: VICTORY in Citizen Suit to Prevent Damage to the Environment from Makepeace Sand Mining
October 12, 2022: Judge rules Carver ERC not ZBA has authority to stop Makepeace’s illegal earth removal operations. Read the decision here.
A separate lawsuit against Makepeace and ERC goes to court November 2, 2022over these same mining violations. Read more here.
Community groups fighting on every front to stop illegal mining while Makepeace and Carver ERC team up to try to stop them from getting into court to protect our Sole Source Aquifer, drinking water and forests
A large pile of excavated sand at one of Makepeace’s sites on Federal Road
At six sites along Federal Road in Carver, AD Makepeace and its shell company Read Custom Soils have strip mined at least 300 acres, about half of which is now solar. A short video is here.
Under the ruse of building cranberry bogs, Makepeace has leveled the highest hills, removing tens of millions of cubic yards of sand and gravel from about 2 square miles. See Save the Pine Barrens presentation to the Carver Zoning Board of Appeals from Sept. 2021 here.
Hundreds of truckloads of sand and gravel leave town, taking away the filtration and protection of the Sole Source Aquifer.
Throughout 2021, letters were sent to both Carver and Wareham about the danger of the trucks speeding by on the rural, winding Federal Road. They also raised the conflicts of interest of the Carver Earth Removal Committee, charged with regulating AD Makepeace, who either do business with Makepeace itself or work in the cranberry, trucking or excavation business industry.
On the petition of Save the Pine Barrens, a hearing was held before the Carver Zoning Board of Appeals in September, 2021. The Board refused to enforce the law, so Save the Pine Barrens and residents filed a lawsuit to stop the illegal mining. On October 12, 2022, Judge Sullivan of the Superior court allowed the motion to dismiss by Makepeace and the Carver Zoning Board of Appeals. The Judge said that the Earth Removal Committee is the only Town body that can address illegal mining operations. In August 2022, a Ten Residents group sued AD Makepeace and the ERC under the Citizen Suit Statute to stop the violations. Read more 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.pngCLwpBS2022-10-29 14:14:082025-12-29 16:36:44Carver: Judge grants motion to dismiss lawsuit against local zoning board over AD Makepeace illegal mining on Federal Road; says go to the Earth Removal Committee instead
Mass. Historical Commission signs off despite presence of Native American use and occupation of the land in the Late Woodland Period
State MEPA office rubber-stamps, ignores sand and gravel mining operation
Vast, unknown quantity of sand and gravel removed with no permit, no oversight by town, state or federal government regulators
AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar “Golden Field” solar project, Federal Road, Carver, Massachusetts. 50 acres of ground mounted solar out of 300 acres to date with another 190 acres planned in the same area. The site is within feet of a Golden Field Pond, designated by Massachusetts as a globally rare Priority Habitat for endangered species of plants and animals.
A vast unknown quantity of lucrative sand and gravel was mined from the site by Makepeace between 2016 and about 2019 to “prepare” the site for solar..
The mining operation is expanding to the north and west to excavate and sell over 4 million cubic yards, leveling an upland kame forest. There has been no biological survey to assess the status of the 220 plants and animals listed as special concern, threatened or endangered that are known to exist in this ecosystem.
This strip mine/solar site is one of 12 brought to us by Borrego Solar and AD Makepeace using ratepayer and taxpayer subsidies for “renewable energy” and “agriculture.”
Borrego Solar and AD Makepeace have been working together to site solar in this area for 10 years. The highest points of land were chosen to maximize the volume of earth that could be removed and sold for private profit.
The impacts on Native American cultural sites were not adequately studied by Mass Historical Commission.
This was allowed to pass Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review without an environmental impact report.
Borrego Solar Golden Field Pond Solar Site, Carver MA 50 acres of strip mining of globally rare Pine Barrens habitat
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.pngCLwpBS2021-05-09 20:11:282025-12-30 16:41:03Carver: AD Makepeace-Borrego Solar 50-acre mining & solar site, Federal Road
Five years is all it took for AD Makepeace to obliterate 50 acres of pristine uplands Pine Barrens forest by strip mining under the ruse of agriculture and site preparation for solar
Makepeace never got an earth removal permit from Carver for the commercial mining operation
Makepeace misrepresented the mining operation as agricultural excavation with the sand and gravel to be used on its cranberry bogs
Instead, Makepeace used the sand and gravel to supply its Read Custom Soilsbusiness located across Federal Road from the mining site
BEFORE: Pristine Upland Forest Before AD Makepeace & Borrego Strip Mine, 2016AFTER: 2021 after AD Makepeace & Borrego Solar Strip Mine & Solar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD-wfKZOHZw
May 8, 2021 Makepeace is expanding the strip mine – operating in violation of the Town of Carver Earth Removal permit.AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar strip mine site, about 2019
Video of AD Makepeace destruction at the Golden Pond Site in Carver is on YouTube:
Borrego partners with AD Makepeace — identifying the highest points of land with the largest volume of earth and putting solar installations there. Grabbing ratepayer and taxpayer subsidies to do this. The ruse and the cheating is being exposed.Here’s some info about Borrego Solar. Here’s the top tier management with their contact info. Source: Pitchbook.
AD Makepeace CEO Jim Kane explains the business plan that his company has with Borrego Solar: ADM does an earth removal operation generating millions in sales of valuable silica sand via its Read Custom Soils subsidiary, www.readcustomsoils.com. Then ADM leases the land to Borrego Solar for 20 years. When the solar “fad” is over Borrego takes out its “junk” and ADM puts in subdivisions. Very well thought out plan — gotta give the guy credit! Too bad most of it is based on misrepresentations and sham permits.
May 13, 2021 — BUSTED!
An explosive new video shows AD Makepeace violating its Carver earth removal permit by running trucks at 150% over the permitted level. This is at just one site-they are operating three sites. We demand that the Town of Carver shut down these operations immediately. We have sent a second request for enforcement.
Makepeace’s own reports show violations — and according to Carver, these truck numbers don’t include sand and gravel sold commercially to cranberry bog companies.
There are criminal and civil penalties for violating an earth removal permit: $100 per violation. Bylaw section 9.1.9. The truck limit is 50 per day.
These time comparison shots of AD Makepeace Read Custom Soils site on Federal Road in Carver on the Plymouth line show the strip mining between 2010 and 2018. It has been going on continuously since 2018. More has been destroyed. Photos from Google Earth Pro (free for downloading on the internet).
We are racing against the clock to save biodiversity and humanity from the destructive extraction of “sand and gravel” in Southeastern Massachusetts and from and the bright green lie of clean energy is destroying out pristine globally rare forests.
May 8, 2021: Time is 1 p.m. AD Makepeace is violating the Carver Earth Removal Permit that prohibits work after 12 p.m. on Saturdays.
AD Makepeace Co. strip mined millions of dollars worth of sand from a Priority Habitat area in Wareham in 2014 under the ruse of agriculture. Now it is a 50 acre Borrego Solar site.
For the Borrego Solar “Golden Field” project, 50 acres of globally rare pristine upland Pine Barrens forests were leveled. Another 100 acres is currently being destroyed under an Earth Removal Permit from Carver claiming this is an agricultural operation. A total of about 500 acres will be strip mined for industrial solar “site preparation” if the 10th, 11th and 12th projects now proposed for Wareham goes ahead.
At the Golden Field solar and strip mine site, endangered Eastern Box Turtles have been killed. Unknown numbers of plants and animals and rare biodiversity of the Pine Barrens ecosystem have been destroyed at this site.
The area contained evidence of a Wampanoag work area. It was destroyed under cover of a letter from Mass Historic Commission. Note that the letter says it is for an AD Makepeace “agricultural project.” Strip mining is not an agricultural operation.
The Golden Field solar project and strip mine was allowed to pass Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) review without an environmental impact report. The AD Makepeace-Borrego MEPA Environmental Notification Form is filled with inconsistencies and unverified claims.
The reason there are so many trucks in Wareham is that Carver’s Earth Removal Committee makes AD Makepeace use Wareham roads to haul out the earth-not Carver roads.
To get the permit for a massive project permitted in 2020 — at least 160 truck trips a day hauling sand for 4 years — Carver told Makepeace it had to use Wareham roads, not Carver roads when leaving the site. Watch out Wareham. More dangerous truck traffic coming your way, destroying your roads.
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.pngCLwpBS2021-04-20 21:51:002025-12-29 16:37:20Carver: AD Makepeace mining operation under the ruse of cranberry agriculture and site preparation for Borrego Solar “Golden Field” project on Federal Road
Above: June 15, 2024: 59 Federal Road, Carver, MA. The Cranberry Village neighborhood is at the bottom of the picture. In 2024, Makepeace filed a permit application to expand the mine to the southwest. As of May 2025, it has been withdrawn. The mining began in about 2016 with the clearing of land and mining sand and gravel for the solar project seen in the top of the photo. Read more about the solar project here. 
Above: AD Makepeace mining site at 59 Federal Road abutting Cranberry Village to the right. Sand covers homes and cars, vibrations from tree clearing and mining shake homes, dangerous truck traffic threatens safety.
The Carver Earth Removal Committee is allowing commercial mining around Read. There are 3 permits for mining pits in the area. Each permit allows 50 truck loads a day. Read more 
