AD Makepeace Co. and “Renewable Energy Development Partners”, former Makepeace employees, have CCA pole site in Carver

Site name: 0 Pond Street/Swan Holt bogs/Wenham St.

1 mile of solar canopy on arsenic poles in cranberry bogs; upland to be cleared to “prepare” the site for more solar

4 megawatts; cost estimate $2 million per building permit application

October 10, 2021, photographs confirm CCA treated poles: see below.

October 20, 2021: Carver Conservation Commission refuses to address residents’ concerns with the CCA poles at this site striking “0 Pond Street” from its agenda at the last minute.

Files from the Planning Board including plans and permits are here:

On Oct. 26, 2021, the Carver Building Commissioner Paul Boucher issues Makepeace a Building Permit EVEN THOUGH the public had informed the Town about CCA in the poles at the site.

Before being hired by Carver in 2021, Building Inspector Boucher resigned his job in Somerset where he was “neck deep in controversy over the scrap metal operation” at Brayton Point. The grassroots group Save Our Bay was seeking enforcement of the zoning laws but Boucher refused.

Here’s some info from the consultants reports dated May – September 2019 in the Planning Board files.

There is a long “Timber Pile Solar Canopy Pile Load Testing Report.” PDF page 191. The report does not say the timber piles they are testing for strength are treated with CCA. There is only a brief mention of “environmental considerations” PDF page 199. The term CCA does not seem to appear anywhere.

The reports confirm the arsenic poles will be put into the groundwater. They say the depth to groundwater at the site is 5.3 to 14.7 feet. PDF page 33. The poles will be embedded from 11- 16 feet into the ground – well into the groundwater that starts at 5.3 feet. PDF page 216.

On January 28, 2020 the Carver Planning Board voted to approve the project.

**Swan Holt is also referred to as “Swan Hold” in historical and archeological records. It is a significant Native American cultural site.

Who is going to pay if our water gets contaminated? Carver required the solar developers to have insurance for pollution. Is it enough to protect our drinking water?

The decommissioning bonds for the three projects are inadequate: about $190,000 per site.

The AD Makepeace decommissioning plan for 0 Pond Street toxic CCA poles calls for cutting them off below grade and disposing of the above ground portion of the poles. Planning Board Files, PDF page 21, Weston & Sampson Report, 9/23/21. This is like using the bogs as a toxic waste dump!