As longtime environmental organizers and activists, we hope this Earth Day will mark the beginning of improved outcomes at the Juniper Ridge Landfill. Current management operations by Casella Waste Systems are squandering Juniper Ridge’s disposal capacity and threatening public health and the environment. It’s time for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Bureau of General Services to stop Casella from gaming the system.

Earlier this year, we joined other concerned residents, environmental organizations and citizens of the Penobscot Indian Nation in expressing concerns about Casella’s management of Juniper Ridge at a public hearing with the Bureau of General Services, the state owner of the landfill that has contracted with Casella for operations. The hearing was considering an additional six-year extension to the existing 30-year contract with Casella to manage the landfill.

At the hearing and in the 71 pages of testimony submitted, not a single person spoke in support of this expansion.

There is a conflict between what is good for Casella and what is good for Mainers. Unfortunately, the Bureau of General Services seems more concerned with keeping Casella happy than with seriously addressing residents’ concerns. The agency did not directly respond to most of the testimony, merely quoting state rules implying they had provided an adequate response and satisfied the issues raised. Essentially, the agency said it would not be taking responsibility, despite being the purported manager of our state landfill.

Despite unimaginative action by the Bureau of General Services, we have been pushing forward protections for our health and environment. In an effort to diminish the harmful impacts of toxic forever chemicals of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found in the millions of gallons of leachate formed by the landfill, we pressed to have a bill put forward by Rep. Jim Dill, D-Old Town, include requirements that Casella treat leachate to remove PFAS to meet drinking water standards before discharging as effluent to the Penobscot River, a sacred relative of the Penobscot Nation.

If this bill – L.D. 2135 – is enacted, this treatment will go into effect Jan. 1, 2027, and will give the Bureau of General Services authority to consult with the Department of Environmental Protection to monitor the technology employed. Leachate treatment is critical now more than ever, as the federal Environmental Protection Agency has just finalized stricter standards for regulating PFAS in drinking water. 

The DEP is now required by rule to consider the environmental justice impacts of its decisions. We believe it is critical for there to be an environmental assessment of the cumulative impacts from air and water pollution, and any additional impacts associated with extension of the contract, before any final decisions are made on the public benefit determination and license for expansion.

To ensure that we are not getting in bed with false waste solutions, affected residents must be meaningfully involved in the decision-making process. It’s time to protect Mainers from future harms to public health and the environment, pursue zero-waste goals, and rethink the front end of materials management to minimize disposal needs.

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