Rally outside Bangor courthouse follows hearing on Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - Litigation over a proposed landfill expansion continued at Penobscot County Court Thursday.

The hearing follows a year-long legal battle between the Penobscot Nation against Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Casella Waste Management over a proposed expansion of Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town.

After an initial rejection, Maine DEP submitted a new public benefit determination concerning an expansion in March.

If approved, Maine’s largest landfill, owned by Casella, will increase in size by half, totaling about 61 acres. This will extend the landfill’s life by about 11 years.

Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) argued against the expansion under a new environmental justice law, saying it places an “undue burden” on the Penobscot Nation.

“To say that the largest landfill in the state, expanding by 61 acres, which is 8.6 Empire State Buildings in volume, will be consistent with ensuring environmental justice for a tribe whose survival and way of life is inextricably entwined with the Penobscot River is completely illogical and against the law,” stated CLF attorney Nora Bosworth after the hearing.

In court, attorneys for Maine DEP and Casella said a double liner, a new PFAS leachate treatment condition and additional odor monitoring would prevent further harm to subsistence fishing and could even reduce pollutants in the Penobscot River.

Afterwards, local activists and members of the Penobscot Nation held a rally outside the courthouse.

These efforts were supported by Slingshot, an organization that helps grassroots environmental efforts across the region. Co-Executive Director Dana Colihan says the group has been fighting alongside the Penobscot Nation against the expansion for multiple years.

“Over the years, there is a really powerful base of local leaders of Penobscot Nation elders and citizens and environmental groups and legal advocates that have really been calling out the injustice here,” Colihan described of the rally.

One of several speakers included John Banks, former director of the Natural Resources for Penobscot Nation.

“It’s getting to the point where it could be unhealthy and unsafe for me to simply continue to practice the cultural traditions that my tribe has practiced literally for thousands and thousands of years,” Banks said during his remarks.

Another, who spoke from a truck due to limited mobility, was Penobscot elder Kathy Paul.

As a senior living with CoPD, she recounted having to endure the smell and lowered air quality from the landfill. She said she feared conditions getting worse, and the health of her neighbors and communities along the Penobscot River decreasing.

Maine DEP and Casella have declined to comment.

The judge is expected to issue a ruling in the coming months. A licensing hearing would follow.