The following relates to the current practice by large historically cranberry-growing enterprises of strip-mining coastal pine barrens tor sand and gravel on a huge scale and claiming agricultural exemption from environmentally protective earth-removal and conservation regulations, although the planned end uses of the land are not agricultural. It relates also to the need to find balance between the needs of fragile ecosystems including southeastern Massachusetts’ sole-source drinking-water aquifer, and the need to site solar-power arrays.
An investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the sand and gravel industry is underway according to sources inside Carver Town Hall. On March 23, 2023, investigators from the OIG’s office went to Carver Town Hall to interview witnesses and seize records of the Earth Removal Committee and other Town offices.
Targets of the investigation include the Carver Earth Removal Committee and the Carver Finance Committee Chair and Vice Chair of Conservation Commission, Alan Germain. Possible other targets according to sources are A.D. Makepeace and individual members of the Earth Removal Committee.
