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Owners: P.A. Landers, Inc.: 0 Landers Farm Way, Map 61, Lot 33-0
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Jeannine Anderson Realty Trust, 143 Hedges Pond Road, Map 55, Lot 52A; 0 Mountain Hill Road, Map 55, Lot 53
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Area Impacted: about 89 acres
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Claimed Reason for Mining: Cranberry agriculture: build bogs and tailwater recovery. The sand and gravel removal was never “necessary and incidental” to cranberry agriculture but has been the primary use of the land since about 2001. To maintain the image of “cranberry farming” P.A. Landers maintains a website for “Mountain Hill Cranberry Bogs” and says it is an “Ocean Spray Grower.” The site clearly links P.A. Landers mining operations. From P.A. Landers “Mountain Farm Cranberry Bogs” site.
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Volume of Earth Removed: 4,285,981 Cubic Yards (estimated using model); appears to far exceed permitted volumes.
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Permits: Yes. Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals issued at least three permits under the ruse of cranberry agriculture. The ZBA knew or should have known this was not a legitimate agricultural operation but it continued to grant and extend permits for over two decades. A topographic view of the area shows the cranberry bogs and reservoirs located on the region’s highest hills of at least 150 feet making it obvious that the “cranberry bogs” and “tailwater pond” were located on the highest hills so that the company could mine sand and gravel under the pretense of agricultural zoning exemptions.
Figure 1: PA Landers mining operation in 2007 at Mountain Hill Road on land owned by Jeannine Anderson Trust.
Figure 2: P.A. Landers construction of a cranberry bog after leveling the hill. As of 2021, the bog was not growing cranberries or in agricultural use.
Figure 3: May, 2023: P.A. Landers installation of large ground mounted solar project on site that was clear-cut, leveled and strip mined for sand and gravel under the pretense of “agriculture”
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Plymouth Carver Sole Source Aquifer: Yes, mining in the aquifer to create tailwater recovery pond and cranberry bogs
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Wetlands and Waterways: Unknown
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Archaeological Impacts: Yes. Located in or near the Herring Pond Tribe reservation lands known as the Great Lot. Located near an area known as King Philip’s Grove (King Philip was a Wampanoag chief). See Map below of Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe historic reservation land. Source: Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe.
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Environmental Justice Population: Areas along the truck routes are environmental justice populations
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Ecosystem: Further research needed.
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Public Subsidies: Cranberry subsidies being investigated. The company benefits from electricity ratepayer subsidies for solar by leasing its land for a solar project subsidized under the state SMART Solar Program administered by Mass. Department of Energy Resources. U.S. Department of Energy federal subsidies are provided to DOER for the state’s solar program.
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Solar: Yes. Anderson installed a large ground mounted solar project on Map 55, Lot 53, 0 Mountain Hill Road between 2021 and 2023. Before the solar was installed this land was clear-cut and strip mined under the false pretense of “cranberry agriculture.” The figures below show the mining site in 2007, the “bog” before solar, and current solar project in 2023.
More information about the mining operator:
P.A. Landers, Inc. has been conducting mining operations at the site since 2001, shortly after acquiring the lot at 0 Landers Farm Way. Landers runs the mining operations on the lots owned by the Jeannine Anderson Realty Trust also. Landers owns and operates a trucking and excavation business based in Hanover, MA, “Serving Southeastern Massachusetts Since 1978”. The company’s website states it “is one of the top suppliers of sand and gravel in the region” and has a “concrete redi mix” facility in Plymouth and Hanover to supply concrete. The Plymouth facility is the PA Landers affiliate, TL Edwards, located at Route 44 and Route 3 in Plymouth. PA Landers and others deliver aggregate material mined from throughout the region to this facility. There is no available information about the regulatory compliance status of the TL Edwards operation. It is a polluting concrete manufacturing facility that also appears to conduct asphalt batching. There is no record of air or water permits from MassDEP. The Town of Plymouth did not respond to an enforcement request delivered on Feb. 22, 2023. MassDEP has also ignored requests for enforcement.
In 2007, P.A. Landers’ current president and another company official were found guilty of federal crimes for their fraudulent sand and gravel operations at the Plymouth facility. The Department of Justice statement from Nov. 8, 2008 is below. Landers transferred the Plymouth concrete manufacturing facility to TL Edwards.
Despite this criminal history, P.A. “Skip” Landers continues to own and operate an extensive sand and gravel mining and trucking company throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. Landers trucks are everywhere hauling sand and gravel throughout the region. It is one of the major truckers for Read Custom Soils LLC and A.D. Makepeace Cranberry Co. Landers runs operations with E.J. Pontiff Cranberry Company and from 2018 to present Landers trucked for the E.J. Pontiff Cranberry mining operation on 140 Firehouse Road. This mining operation is being conducted under the false pretense of creating a cranberry bog “tailwater recovery pond.”
Town of Plymouth Earth Removal Permit History: The following permits were issued by the Plymouth Zoning Board of Appeals despite the obvious ruse of this operation claiming to be “agriculture.”
2002: Permit 3086: 10/15/02 - 533,349 cubic yards; ZBA extended length of permit and authorized more volume for years for alleged “cranberry tailwater recovery pond”
2005: Permit Number: 3288: 5/13/05 - 580,245 cubic yards; ZBA extended length of permit and authorized more volume over 10 years for alleged cranberry bog expansion
2015: Permit Number 3515, 143 Hedges Pond Road/Jeannine Anderson Realty Trust. Two year permit granted for “9 Phases.” On Oct. 7, 2015 the ZBA voted 5-0 to extend the permit for two years, to 11/15/17 for 580, 245 cubic yards for alleged cranberry bog expansion. PA “Skip” Landers represented Anderson at the public meeting to extend the permit on Oct. 7, 2015. The ZBA minutes are here. A majority of the same ZBA members that voted to grant this permit are on the ZBA as of August 2023: This includes Michael Main, long time member, current chair;
Peter Conner, long time member and rotates as chair with Main; and Michael Leary, long time member. These members have been advocates for sand and gravel mining operators in Plymouth for decades.
As of 2023, areas of the site appear to be actively mined.
In 2023, the public sought enforcement of the Plymouth bylaw because of continued truck traffic coming from the site. The Town claimed it investigated and found no violations. Most of the site is an open pit mine with no vegetation. It is directly exposing the Sole Source Aquifer to contamination.
In October 2015, the ZBA issued the earth removal permit extension even though four months earlier in June 2015 a worker at the mine died when the 128-foot high sand bank collapsed. The Mine Safety and Health Administration investigation report can be found here. It states:
“On June 30, 2015, Charles E. Pace equipment operator age 65 was killed while operating a front end loader at the base of a sand bank. Pace was trapped in the operator's cab when a portion of the bank collapsed and engulfed the frontend loader. The accident occurred due to mine managements failure to utilize previously established mining methods to maintain wall bank and slope stability in the area The victim was extracting material from the base of a 128 feet high bank that was not sloped to a safe angle. In addition management failed to adequately examine the mining area prior to commencing work and periodically throughout the shi as changing ground conditions warranted.”
It also describes the Construction Sand and Gravel processing equipment being used on the site at the time which included a portable screening plant and stacker conveyor, establishing that this is a mining operation not agriculture.
See news article from October 2015 about ZBA granting a permit for 15 more years of mining on this site.
