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WAREHAM
Tihonet Rd: AD Makepeace proposes to strip 54 acres of Pine Barrens forest for industrial solar and battery storage. This project is part of a string of solar projects that Beals and Thomas, along with landowner AD Makepeace, are proposing along Tihonet Road in Wareham. If all of the projects go through, Wareham will lose 230 acres of forest to solar development.
Fearing Hill: Solar developer ConEdison proposes to clear-cut Pine Barrens forest and denude land for large ground mounted solar, batteries. The site is located on Weweantic River, and ancient Native American trails will be lost if the project goes through.
TIMELINE
Tihonet Rd
Makepeace MEPA Environmental Notification Form filed. Beals and Thomas, on behalf of AD Makepeace, files an Environmental Notification Form with MEPA. A MEPA ENF was required because Makepeace will obliterate over 54 acres of forest meeting a MEPA threshold. Makepeace has already been commercially logging the land.
January 31, 2024
March 8, 2024
The Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs issues the MEPA Certificate on the North Wareham Solar project. The destructive solar project is proposed by AD Makepeace Cranberry Co. and its former executives who spun off “Renewable Energy Development Partners” (REDP) to build solar.
The Certificate is a partial victory for the grassroots and the planet because it requires an environmental impact report that takes a “holitistic” look at Makepeace’s past and future solar projects – about 15 of them in this area.
Currently
The next step in the MEPA process is for Makepeace and REDP to do a draft environmental impact report which will then be put out for public comment.
The Certificate also does not require Makepeace to study the Damage to the Environment from Makepeace’s decades of massive sand mining operations in the area, done under the guise of cranberry bog agriculture.
Fearing Hill
ConEdison proposes a solar project in West Wareham that threatens to clear-cut one of the last remaining intact ancient forests in the lower west-side of the Weweantic River watershed.
2022
2022
The Wareham Conservation Commission denies an order of conditions for this project, stating that the project cannot be conditioned to meet the performance standards set forth in the wetlands regulations. This denial of the order was based on the fact that clearcutting 22 acres of trees would inevitable alter the downgradient wetlands.
2023
ConEdison appealed the Denial of the Order of Conditions to the DEP.
May 2024
The DEP sides with ConEdison and grants a superseding order of conditions for the project.
A group of 12 Wareham residents appeals the DEP’s decision to the highest environmental court in the state, the MassDEP Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution.
Currently
The Project Developer has drawn new site plans in response to a critical hydrogeological assessment of the Project’s potential to generate increased storm water runoff and impact downgradient receptors. The hydrogeological assessment can be found here. Because the developer has drawn new site plans, the Planning Board must vote to approve those plans before the Project can go forward. With the superseding Order of Conditions in hand from the DEP, the developer will likely start going before the Planning Board again in June 2024. We urge Wareham residents to attend public hearings at the Planning Board to oppose this irresponsible project!
SITE MAP
The Beals and Thomas + A.D. Makepeace site is planned for a forested area along Tihonet Road in Wareham, MA, home to 54 acres of Pine Barrens.
ConEdison is proposing to clear-cut Pine Barrens forest and denude land for large ground mounted solar and batteries. The site located on Weweantic River, and ancient Native American trails will be lost if the plans go through.
IMPACTS
Makepeace’s proposed solar projects lie at the heart of the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens forest, home to 40 natural communities and over 200 state-listed rare, threatened and endangered species.In states like New Jersey, the Pine Barrens are federally protected, but Massachusetts has not taken the initiative.
The Project is at 91 and 101 Fearing Hill Road, directly upgradient of the Weweantic River and residential drinking water wells. If executed, the Project will level scenic and historic hillside adjoining Town conservation land, and isolate a continuous wetland on its southern side.
TAKEAWAYS
Like solar development proposals across the Massachussetts, Beals and Thomas + A.D. Makepeace are greenwashing their proposal for a highly profitable development project that would result in massive deforestation and environmental devastation with harmful impacts on the Wareham community.
Here's what we can learn from this case to protect forests and communities across the state:
DOVER AMENDMENT
Under the Dover Amendment, "municipalities may not “prohibit or unreasonably regulate the installation of solar energy systems or the building of structures that facilitate the collection of solar energy, except where necessary to protect the public health, safety, or welfare."
This law is intended to promote the growth of renewable energy. However, it was established in 1985 when solar installations consisted only of small-scale projects that could be attached to houses or buildings, rather than the large scale projects we see today. Local zoning laws help communities protect inhabitants from exploitation.
Renewable energy implementation should reduce carbon emissions, and clear cutting forests will not. The Dover Amendment is being utilized in cases like Shutesbury to prevent towns from protecting themselves from large solar companies implementing "sustainable" energy systems that, in reality, damage the local ecosystem and the climate.
MEPA
MEPA is vital state-level legislation that can be used by towns to slow and stop development project processes when they meet MEPA thresholds.
Wareham environmental activists have so far been able to use MEPA to their advantage. They recommend speaking with lawyers, state legislators who care about the environment, and organizing within the community to ensure that MEPA is properly enforced.