AD Makepeace blatantly abuses the process for obtaining permits under the Mass Endangered Species Act

State officials look the other way, pretend Plymouth mining operations are “cranberry agriculture”

Hundreds of acres of Priority Habitat for rare and endangered Pine Barrens plants and animals being obliterated

Above: Location of AD Makepeace 217-acre strip mine. The company is trying to claim this is a “agriculture project” to build 136 acres of cranberry bogs and reservoirs, pumps and canals. Below: strip mine will destroy globally rare habitat designated for conservation by the state.

Priority Habitat being for rare and endangered species being destroyed by AD Makepeace strip mine, State DFG goes along

AD Makepeace 140 acre mining project in Priority Habitat 507 and adjacent to Priority Habitat 601 Source: MassMapper https://maps.massgis.digital.mass.gov/MassMapper/MassMapper.html

The state’s top environmental official, Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, continues to cover up for AD Makepeace, pretending this is “agriculture.” The state ignores the hundreds of trucks a day hauling sand and gravel illegally mined to supply Makepeace’s Read Custom Soils aggregate processing and sales facility. As shown on the map below, Makepeace’s Read Custom Soils is abutting the 2014- acre Plymouth strip mine where the company is mining at least 7.2 million cubic yards according to its Town permit application.

AD Makepeace’s Read Custom Soils, less than 1/2 mile from the 140 acre Plymouth mining site

Makepeace brags it is strip mining its “enormous reserves” of sand and gravel in Plymouth and Carver:

From AD Makepeace Read Custom Soils: www.readcustomsoils.com

Within a one mile radius ADM Makepeace is strip mining at least 14 million cubic yards of sand and gravel according to permits in Carver and Wareham. More is being mined without permits under the pretense that the sand and gravel is being used to maintain and restore Makepeace’s 1,700 acres of bogs.

AD Makepeace has at least 4 large mining sites within about a 1 mile radius in Plymouth and Carver. Source: Mass Mapper. Yellow is Priority Habitat under Mass. Endangered Species Act.

AD Makepeace mining locations: south Plymouth & Carver’s Read Custom Soils

Some AD Makepeace mining and solar sites surrounding Read Custom Soils, Carver, Plymouth, Wareham MA. 2022.

List of sites corresponding to numbers in map above.

On August 16, 2022, the Plymouth Conservation Commission held a public “discussion” via Zoom and voted 5-2 to throw out the “Rules and Regulations for Plymouth Wetlands Protection Bylaw” that the prior Commission adopted in April 2022 after a lengthy and comprehensive regulatory review. The Commission claimed it was reverting to the 2010 regulations.

It appears the vote is null and void because:

The “discussion” was not a public hearing which is legally required in order to revoke a law and adopt a new one
The meeting notice called it a “discussion” not a public hearing – the agenda must say “public hearing” when a public hearing is going to be held so people know to show up and exercises their Constitutional rights to due process of law
The Chair confirmed that it was a “discussion” because he never “opened a public hearing” as is required by law for a public hearing
As of August 16 the 2010 regulations were not posted on the Commission website — where is this old law the Commission voted on? It violates the Constitution if a regulatory body like the Commission doesn’t give the public a copy of the law they are voting

More research will be done on what appears to be a sham vote.

About 40 people attended the Zoom hearing, most speaking in favor of the well-established, scientifically supported public benefits of wetlands which include protecting our drinking water aquifer, water quality, wildlife and homes from flooding and sea level rise. Some echoed concerns of the citizen Coalition set forth in a sign-on letter delivered last week to the Commission. The Town’s Wetlands Bylaw contains a comprehensive list of values the regulations are intended to protect. Is a Commission that wants to weaken regulations to protect “private property rights” going to do everything it can to protect our drinking water, water quality and wetlands?

Since the 1600s, the lower 48 states have lost half our wetlands. Massachusetts has lost about one third of its wetlands since colonial times. Find out more about these critical natural resources and why we have laws to protect them.

Why would a “Conservation Commission” throw out regulations?

Speakers during the August 16 “discussion” asked pointed questions about the lack of enforcement of the state Wetlands Protection Act and the Town’s General Wetlands Bylaw themselves – the very foundation of our wetlands laws. The Town has a reputation state-wide of having lax wetlands enforcement and that is obvious. As one speaker mentioned, the Town’s Rules and Regulations are similar to what many Massachusetts municipalities have. Plymouth has 365 ponds, miles of shoreline and the Plymouth-Carver Sole Source Drinking Water Aquifer that serves over 150,000 people in seven towns. We need protective wetlands laws and a Conservation Commission that will take the laws seriously.

Plymouth resident Sharon Racette who lives on Big West Pond asked the Commission why it is not enforcing the Wetland Bylaw or state Wetlands Protection Act.

“For three years I have tried to get the Conservation Agent and the Commission to stop the destruction of a Priority Habitat for rare and endangered species, to protect a vernal pool, and to stop illegal alteration of our precious wetlands. Why is our Conservation Commission so willing to ignore our laws and throw out carefully crafted regulations that protect our drinking water, wetlands, wildlife and home values?” Racette said after the Zoom meeting.

While she was speaking during the Zoom meeting, Chair Randy Parker cut her off and muted after about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, speakers in favor of revoking the regulations were allowed more time to repeat their reasons why private property rights and “freedom from government regulation” should trump the public’s interest in clean water, wetlands, and wildlife.

Priority Habitat of Rare Species, “PH 598” Big West Pond, Plymouth. Town Conservation Commission refuses to take appropriate enforcement action, has let wetlands be destroyed.

Tag Archive for: Priority Habitat

Plymouth: AD Makepeace mining operation under the ruse of cranberry agriculture exposed