Action Alert: Tell Gov. Baker to reject the environmental form for Borrego Solar projects in Wareham

Governor Charlie Baker, Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, & Alexander Strysky (MEPA Analyst)

Dear Friend,

In Wareham, Massachusetts globally rare  forests, our water and our cultural heritage are threatened by three projects proposed by AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar on the Wankinko River and Tihonet Pond. Our two minute video shows this spectacular spot: Pine Barrens of Wareham

The projects involve clear-cutting, strip mining, earth removal and the installation of 158 acres of land based solar panels-150,000 panels in all. This project requires environmental review by the state Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office. On March 15, 2021, Borrego filed an Environmental Notification Form (ENF).

Governor Baker and Kathleen Theoharides, the Governor’s Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs will decide in about two weeks whether the Makepeace and Borrego ENF is “adequate.” It is not and must be rejected.

We demand a full environmental impact report disclosing all the "Damage to the Environment" as required by MEPA.  

Sign our petition! MEPA EXTENDED THE DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS TO MAY 24, 2021.

Thank you!
The Community Land & Water Team

To: Governor Charlie Baker, Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, & Alexander Strysky (MEPA Analyst)
From: [Your Name]

Dear Governor Baker and Secretary Theoharides,

We demand that you reject the AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar March 15, 2021 “Expanded Environmental Notification Form” EEA # 13940 (ENF) filed under the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). This project will destroy and negatively impact up to 190 acres of globally rare, pristine Pine Barrens forests, Wampanoag cultural resources, threaten our water and harm real estate values.

The ENF is incomplete, inaccurate and a gross misrepresentation of the nature of the project. For starters, it fails to disclose the environmental impacts of strip mining of 1.2 million cubic yards of earth for commercial sale by AD Makepeace Company.

Already, your Administration’s flawed energy programs have caused 4,000 acres of Massachusetts forests to be destroyed for land-based solar utilities.

Your Department of Energy Resources (DOER) solar subsidy programs force us as taxpayers and ratepayers to subsidize our own destruction - clear-cutting healthy, carbon-sequestering forests that are our best defense against the climate crisis, destroying our cultural heritage, threatening our water, and creating thousands of acres of blight that lower property values. This is being done in the name of solar land-based energy-generating utilities falsely portrayed as “green.”

AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar have already clear-cut and strip-mined at least 300 acres of pristine, undisturbed globally rare Pine Barrens forest in Southeastern Massachusetts for land-based solar. In doing so, they have killed species of plants and animals listed under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act with permission from MassWildlife. They have destroyed Wampanoag cultural sites violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). This is a climate crime, not a climate solution. These forests, ecosystems, biodiversity, and cultural sites can never be replaced.

We will not continue to subsidize the destruction of our land, water, and communities for your misguided energy policies. We demand that your MEPA Office reject the AD Makepeace and Borrego Solar ENF.

We further demand that you immediately take steps to end all DOER subsidies for land-based solar.

Massachusetts can do better by directing renewable energy subsidies to solar on existing buildings, parking lots, and other infrastructure.

Thank you.