I’d like to thank Michael Cohen for his article “Developer wants to remove 2 million yards of sand and gravel from Cedarville parcel.” He shined a spotlight on the rapidly expanding sand mining business on Boston’s south shore, being conducted under the folksy guise of “cranberry farming.”
P.A. Landers is the owner of the “cranberry farm” seeking a permit to remove two million cubic yards of sand and gravel to ostensibly expand its bogs off Hedges Pond Road in Cedarville.
Cranberry farming or sand mining? When I moved to the South Shore about 40 years ago, I remember seeing P.A. Landers’ eye-catching construction trucks everywhere – black with gold lettering. An online search for P.A. Landers results in a list with the top item: “P.A. Landers, Inc. – Moving Earth for you Since 1978.” Click the link and the P.A. Landers home page appears with a series of photos, captioned as follows:
- Construction
- Aggregates
- Concrete Redi Mix
- Snow & Ice Control
- Rentals
- Deliveries
Where are the cranberries? To find them, you have to go to the fifth tab on the page, “About,” and then scroll down to the next-to-last item to see “Cranberries.” Not high on their business model.
That’s because P.A. Landers isn’t a cranberry farmer; it’s an earth removal business, just like their website claims. Many of us on the South Shore – Plymouth, Carver, Wareham, and Halifax – have been fighting to protect our water supply, air quality, forests, and wildlife for many years from the devastation of sand mining. A.D. Makepeace, P.A. Landers and other companies have made millions of dollars from mining the sand that protects our sole source aquifer from contamination. The United Nations has reported that the two resources in the world with the biggest shortages are water and sand. Sand mining is a very lucrative business.
I live in Carver next to an A.D. Makepeace sand mine. I hear the heavy equipment operating at different times all day long. The roads surrounding the community where I live support a constant stream of dump trucks. Dust from the mine covers the homes and cars of some of my neighbors, dust that may contain carcinogenic silica. This has to stop before the South Shore is one giant sand mine pit. Many of us are calling for a moratorium on sand mining so studies can be done to ensure that earth removal is safe and sustainable.
Right now, companies rip up trees and destroy wildlife, remove sand and gravel at alarming rates that disfigure the beautiful land we moved here to enjoy, and make millions of dollars at our expense. Two million cubic yards of earth is enormous.
I hope your readers will visit the Save the Pine Barrens YouTube channel to learn about the sand mining in our area and what we can do to put a moratorium into effect.
– Linda Jacobs