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Location: 0 Spring Street, Carver, MA

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  • Owner:   Rickets Pond Business Park LLC; SLT Construction, Inc.

  • Volume of Earth Removed: 764,854 Cubic Yards permitted by Carver Earth Removal Committee. No independent verification of volume removed.

  • Permit: Yes. Two Earth Removal Permits granted by Carver ERC: Earth Removal Permit 71 issued June 6, 2018 for 557,369 cubic yards, expired on June 5, 2023; Second permit issued 2021 for 207,485 cubic yards to expand mining operation on north side of pond onto land of Marob Trust/Mary McGrath. Superior Court granted legal standing to plaintiff neighbors, August 2022 citing extensive harm suffered by the mining operations. Cynthia Beard and others v. Carver ERC, SLT and Marob Trust, 2022CV 00032

  • Area Impacted: 43.7 acres (per MEPA Certificate on ENF 15883)

  • Claimed Reason for Mining: Subdivision development: road and utilities. Violations of zoning bylaw subject of lawsuit pending in Superior Court: Save the Pine Barrens, Inc. v. Carver Zoning Board of Appeals and RPBP LLC 2283 CV 00598

  • Solar: No

  • Water Supply: Yes: Public and private drinking water wells threatened: see report from expert hydrologist Scott Horslely, mining in the groundwater here 

  • Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer: Yes. 

  • Wetlands and Waterways: Yes. On going emissions to Rickets’ Pond, Great Pond of the Commonwealth.  See video and photographs. Lawsuit for enforcement of Town Wetlands Bylaw pending in Superior Court: Save the Pine Barrens, Inc. v. Carver Conservation Commission and RPBP LLC 2283 CV 0584 Request for  Superseding Order of Conditions, Ten Residents Group and Save the Pine Barrens, MassDEP #SE 126-0646 pending at MassDEP

  • Archaeological Impacts: Yes. According to preliminary archeological survey, there were archeological finds on the site. MassDOT sold the land to SLT and failed to adequately comply with MEPA, NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106 for consultation with Tribes. Public records request documents no Section 106 finding despite the claim in the MEPA Certificate 15883 that there was one.

  • Environmental Justice Population: Unknown

  • Ecosystem: Potential vernal pool obliterated, Carver Conservation Commission failed to require study; Pine Barrens forest obliterated; reports of federally endangered Northern Cooter in pond ignored. 

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  • Taxpayer Impact:

    • MassDOT was mining the site prior to selling it to RPBP/SLT in 2018. MassDOT failed to conduct an appraisal that evaluated the value of sand and gravel (about 1 million cubic yards currently worth about $18 million) and sold the parcel for $x allowing SLT a windfall and depriving taxpayers of revenue.

  • Other: MEPA Certificate/environmental notification form (signed by EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton) ignored massive mining operation and failed to require identification of impacts of changing topography, deforestation; claims “Measures to avoid, minimize and mitigate project impacts included maintaining 33.75 acres of open space, limiting impervious are to more than 65 feet away from Ricketts Pond in accordance with the Town of Carver’s Wetland Protection Bylaw, and construction of a stormwater management system to reduce pollutants in runoff and maintain pre-development peak discharge rates and volumes.” acres will remain “open space.” Did not require an EIR. MassDEP has issued a draft solid waste permit allowing the Plympton portion of the site to be used for construction and demolition debris recycling. Requires a Notice of Project Change under MEPA. MEPA ignored historic impacts, failed to require documentation of compliance with NHPA.

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