Public Comments Being Accepted Now
Casella Waste Systems has applied for an expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill that could more than double its size. Under law, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection must determine whether an expansion has “public benefit.” They also must consider Environmental Justice when looking at the industrial facility’s impact on surrounding communities, including the Penobscot Nation. The DEP will make a decision by August 23rd. Public comments are currently being accepted.
After a hard fought push back from area residents, including members of the Penobscot Nation, the DEP is now required to consider “Environmental Justice” when making a determination about whether a landfill expansion meets the “Public Benefit” criteria. The DEP will decide if the criteria is met next month. They are currently accepting written comments. Or comments can be given live to the DEP on a Zoom meeting on Friday, July 26th.
Juniper Ridge landfill is located in West Old Town, and is situated between Pushaw Stream and Birch Stream that both flow into the Penobscot River. The landfill’s leachate waste is trucked to the now Nine Dragons mill in Old Town, where it receives treatment and is released into the Penobscot River, directly below the Penobscot Nation.
In current solid waste law, the DEP has defined Environmental Justice as, “…the right to be protected from environmental pollution and live in and enjoy a clean and healthful environment, regardless of ancestry, class, disability, ethnicity, income, national origin or religion. Environmental justice includes the equal protection and meaningful involvement of all people with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of waste management laws, regulations, and licensing decisions.”
The Penobscot Nation has experienced environmental impacts from the Juniper Ridge Landfill including odors, a toxic fire in 2023, and the discharging of minimally treated leachate, which includes PFAS, into the Penobscot River sustenance fishing waters.
Juniper Ridge Landfill still accepts out of state waste after Casella lobbied for a postponement of recently passed restrictions.
Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Bryant shared these comments at the Department of Environmental Protection public meeting in Orono, on July 16, 2024:
“The Penobscot Nation continues to have grave concerns about the management of the Juniper Ridge landfill which has had a negative impact on our lands, waters, and people. The practices employed at the site over the years have added to the harmful contamination of our sacred homeland, the Penobscot River. The health and well being of our citizens is directly linked to the health and well being of the river. Due to industrial and waste management pollutants such as forever chemicals, PFAS, affecting the river we have not been able to continue our cultural value of being a sustenance fishing people because the fish in the river are not healthy enough for us to consume more than small amounts. This disruption is not just about a food source, it is about the connection to our ancestors and very ways of being suffering due to the oppressive nature of profit over people and the ethos of environmental injustice that places marginalized communities in harm’s way. The expansion of Juniper Ridge under Casella perpetuates harms against the Penobscot Nation, who are the original stewards of these lands and waters dating back over 10,000 years. Coupled with the questionable nature of if this initiative is in line with state statutes, there is no reason to think favorably of it. We add our voice to the assertion that there is no public benefit to this expansion, quite the opposite.”
Paula Love is a Penobscot Nation citizen. She and her partner have lived for four years in Alton in close proximity to the Juniper Ridge Landfill. Here is part of the story she shared with Sunlight Media Collective on July 21st, 2024 to submit to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection:
“Since we’ve lived there, we have had health problems that we haven’t had before. Just all of a sudden, we’ll get these pains and they’ll last just for days. But it always happens after a burn, after they have their burns at the landfill. There’s been several in the past month. And there’s another neighbor of ours, she’s had health illnesses that have been strange and out of the blue. And it’s always after the burns that these come on. John, who is in his 40s, he’s had headaches and fatigue. Both of us will have this onset of fatigue. Our breathing is horrible. My grandchildren, I have two young grandchildren that I have at the house every day, and they always have breathing issues. And this is totally new for us.
We saw the May 2023 fire at the landfill from the road. It was huge. There was ash that fell on some of our stuff, took the paint off one of the cars. There are little pieces where the paint was dulled. And then just lately, there’s been two fires there. In the past month, there’s been two fires. We get no warning of the fires. The only way we know is I saw it on Facebook. And I could smell the smoke. But we get no notification that there’s a fire burning. One of my neighbors has a friend who works there, and she had texted and asked if there was an incident, and he said, “No incident. It’s just a little fire.” She says they have to burn off some of the stuff there. I’m not sure how it goes, but I know it happens because we can smell it.
I haven’t benefited from the landfill. I don’t believe I will ever benefit from the landfill. I don’t see any benefits to the landfill being expanded. There’s no accountability to the community. We live there. We’re breathing in the fumes.”
Maria Girouard spoke about the proposed Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion on “RadioActive,” on WERU Community Radio this past winter. She is a citizen of the Penobscot Nation. She is a Penobscot Nation Tribal Council member, though was not formerly representing the Nation in her remarks. She’s also a grassroots environmental organizer with Dawnland Environmental Defense and co-founder of Sunlight Media Collective. She’s writer and director of the documentary, “The Penobscot: Ancestral River Contested Territory.”
“…There’s also a lot of thinking from people who live far away from the landfill that the impact is contained to a certain area. But water is water, and water knows no boundaries. And the fact that Juniper Ridge Landfill has been involved in dumping leachate into the Penobscot River for a number of years, we’ve now learned about the concerns and the impacts of the PFAS and how that is impacting how we grow food, how we can hunt, and how we can fish.
We have had the fire at Juniper Ridge Landfill last spring. And so many neighbors, and of course people from Penobscot Nation, who are in such close proximity to Juniper Ridge Landfill, were concerned about the toxicity in the air, the toxicity in the ashes that were falling into the river, that were falling into their backyards, that were falling into their garden spaces, all over Penobscot Nation land.
Penobscot Nation owns approximately half the land in Argyle Township. And the location of Juniper Ridge, setting in between two streams, Pushaw Stream and Birch Stream. It’s located in a wetland. And now with this current request, Juniper Ridge is looking to expand 40% of the current footprint. That’s enormous. And if you look at a map and you see where it’s located between these two streams…You have to really question the impact to future generations.
And one thing that we learned along the way, is that landfills, they’re all going to leak at some time or another. And so Penobscot Nation and surrounding communities have a good chance of being severely impacted by any more accidents or things that happen there at Juniper Ridge Landfill. There’s been a lot of work that’s gone into cleaning up messes and improving the ecological integrity to the river. And I think Juniper Ridge needs to be looked at broadly. That we look at all these ways that the landfill has impact to wild game, to fishing, to the water itself.
It’s just a classic environmental injustice. The location of it being where there’s poorer communities that are subjected to higher levels of environmental risks. And I always say that when people throw their trash away, away is somewhere, and in this case away is in the backyard to the Penobscot Nation.”
| To provide live virtual testimony to the DEP on Friday, July 26th between 9-11 am, register with Ruth Ann Burke, Office of the Commissioner, Maine DEP, at [email protected] prior to July 26, 2024.Written comments may be submitted by email to [email protected].Or by postal service to: Karen Knuuti Department of Environmental Protection 106 Hogan Road, STE 6 Bangor, ME 04401 |
| If you would like to tell your story to Sunlight Media Collective, we can provide a written transcript to send to the DEP.If you would like your story to be shared publicly through audio or video, please contact Kathy Paul, Josh Woodbury or Lokotah Sanborn at [email protected]. |
| The DEP will make a decision by August 23rd. Public comments will be accepted until then, but will be more likely considered in the DEP deliberations if submitted by early August. For more information, including how to view Casella’s application for a landfill expansion go to: https://www.maine.gov/…/JRL%20virtual%20public… |
