Published: October 6, 2026
GARDNERSVILLE, Montserrado County – Residents of the Strocton Creek community say industrial sand mining by Ever Bright has stripped the riverbanks, and floodwater now pours into their homes every rainy season. After their complaints went unanswered, Environmental Protection Agency head Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo says the agency will review the company’s operations.
“Companies are regulated by EPA. If they are operating outside the framework, there have to be consequences. We will look into what is going on with Ever Bright in that area,” Yarkpawolo said.
Residents of Strocton Creek’s Bloc ‘D’, in District 13, say the river was once narrow but has widened as mining went on, leaving homes on its edge exposed.
“Water flows through our houses from mostly the 15th of August, throughout September and mid-October every year nowadays because the river no longer has bank due to the mining,” said Mega Lawson, who has lived in the area for five years.
Rosetta Nah, who moved to the community in 2018, said she has spent eight years backfilling her land, only to lose ground as the mining continues. She said she moves her children out every rainy season.
“In this deep rainy season, they are still mining; because of that, if you come here next month, you won’t be able to stand anywhere around here,” she said. “We are just living here by the grace of God.”
Residents said they get nothing from the operation.
“As these people are digging, our houses are being undermined yet no benefit. Common dirt that they dig from the river, we have to buy it from them, let alone talk of the very sand they are mining,” resident Winner Brown said.
Andrew Kanyon, who heads the Strocton Creek community leadership, said more than 100 property owners along the river have complained that their homes are being undermined. He said leaders have taken the complaints to the township office and to the district representative without result.
Kanyon said Strocton Creek was left out of a memorandum of understanding that Ever Bright signed with the neighboring Battery Factory community. Emmanuel Hallie Tongie, general secretary of the Battery Factory leadership, said the agreement requires the company to pay that community $5 per truckload of sand to repair the road its trucks use, and that it has no provision for a third party.
“We are in sympathy with them too, but the real issue here is our agreement has no third party,” Tongie said.
Prince N. Johnson, general manager of Ever Bright Sand Mining Company, denied the residents’ claims.
“I don’t know of anything like that, because the company is in good standing with the community. We have an MOU, with all of our documents from the previous agencies that are coordinating the sector,” Johnson said.
He said the company has paid benefits to both the Battery Factory and Strocton Creek groups. He blamed ongoing complaints on how local leaders handle the money and said the township should resolve such disputes. He also said the company is considering shutting down.
“Due to the back-and-forth concerns, the company is thinking about shutting down because the essence of every business is to make profit,” he said.
Residents accuse District 13 Rep. Edward P. Flomo of ignoring their complaints. Flomo did not respond to calls, WhatsApp messages and text messages over a week. The Ministry of Mines and Energy confirmed that Ever Bright is licensed, but could not say whether it complies with the terms of its license.
Yarkpawolo said the EPA does not issue a permit without an environmental and social impact assessment and community consultation.
“If the community objects, the project cannot move forward,” he said. He suggested that residents who say they never saw the agency may not have been present when the permit was issued.
He said the EPA’s mapping team has data on Strocton Creek and will review it, and that a new assessment will be done if needed to determine whether residents face displacement. He said river sand mining across Monrovia has grown since the agency stopped beach mining because of sea erosion, and that no study yet shows how much sand the rivers can safely give up.
“If people are going to be displaced, we have to tell the company and something has to be done,” he said.
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