From 2018 to 2022, Maine’s landfill waste increased by 24%. Waste generation continues to increase at approximately 5.6% per year. (Photo by AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star)
The Juniper Ridge Landfill is a step closer to an expansion that would allow for roughly 11 more years of use, despite continued objections from local residents and advocates concerned about the landfill’s impact on air and water quality in the region.
In a decision released Wednesday, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Melanie Loyzim determined there is a substantial public benefit from a proposal to increase the capacity of the facility in Old Town and Alton, which means the Casella subsidiary that operates it can now submit an application for a license to expand the facility.
The decision has not stymied opposition. The Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy organization, is prepared to challenge the determination, according to director of communities and toxics Alexandra St. Pierre.
“This decision recklessly gambles with public health and the environment,” St. Pierre wrote in a statement following the decision. “It dismisses the serious concerns raised by the Penobscot Nation and other nearby residents about the harmful effects this expansion will have on their health and community. We refuse to allow this dangerous expansion to proceed unchecked.”
Juniper Ridge Landfill is owned by the state but managed by the Bureau of General Services, which contracts with NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC, a subsidiary of the waste management company Casella.
Opened in 1993 and last expanded in 2017, the landfill currently disposes of just over half of landfill waste in Maine and is expected to exhaust its current capacity by 2028. BGS has proposed expanding the landfill by 61 acres, which at the current fill rate of about 1 million cubic yards of waste per year, would allow for roughly 11 more years of use.
The Maine DEP concluded that Casella’s proposed expansion is needed to meet Maine’s short- and long-term waste capacity needs and is consistent with the state’s waste reduction plans. From 2018 to 2022, Maine’s landfill waste increased by 24%. Waste generation continues to increase at approximately 5.6% per year.
Further, the DEP determined that the expansion doesn’t conflict with environmental justice — a new factor that had to be considered under a state law passed in 2021 — that is, as long as Casella meets a few conditions.
Environmental justice was among the concerns raised by environmental groups, local residents and the Penobscot Nation during public comment.
The public argued there was insufficient treatment of landfill leachate — water that collects chemicals after passing through the waste — specifically for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS, which runs into the Penobscot River.
The Penobscot Nations’s reservation at Indian Island is located five miles from the landfill and also includes the Penobscot River, along which Juniper Ridge is located.
The Maine Legislature attempted to require Casella to treat leachate in a way that ensures PFAS levels don’t exceed established drinking water standards during the past session, but the measure was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills. Now, as a condition of the Maine DEP’s determination, Casella will have to install a department-approved system for treating landfill leachate for PFAS before expanding operations.
Casella also has to pay for a contractor to complete an odor analysis, another concern raised by local residents.
The company will also have to conduct two more surface scans per year for air quality and establish a system to inform the public about significant landfill events in near real time. Last year, a fire at the landfill reignited concerns from nearby residents about toxins in the air.
Others argued the landfill was being consumed by out-of-state waste, an issue the Maine Legislature targeted in 2022 with a law designed to close a loophole that allowed waste coming in from out of state to be classified as Maine waste once it gets to a state-based processing facility.
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