Global sand shortage causing furious rush to mine the region’s sand deposits, report identifies regulatory failures, documents air and water pollution, forest and biodiversity and danger to drinking water.

Southeastern Massachusetts, famous for its approximately 13,000 acres of cranberry bogs, is also home to about 110 mining operations, according to the report. The report links mining to cranberry agriculture and estimates about 71% of the sites are owned by cranberry companies. State laws protect agriculture from overregulation and the report explains that the law can be manipulated to protect sand and gravel mines that claim they are building cranberry bogs or ponds.

The report can be downloaded and viewed on the interactive website, https://www.sandwarssoutheasternma.org/. 

A newly released ten minute film accompanies the report and is on the Save the Pine Barrens Southeastern Massachusetts YouTube Channel.