Despite objections from neighbors and environmental groups, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection concluded Wednesday that expanding the state’s largest landfill, Juniper Ridge, would substantially benefit the public.

It’s not an outright approval, but the department’s decision allows the state to apply to add 61 acres to the state-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill, which takes in 52% of the state’s waste. The state claims this expansion would extend the facility’s operating life by 11 years; without it, it would run out of space by 2028.

Juniper Ridge, a state-owned landfill in Old Town in October 2020.  Sunlight Media Collective/Chek Wingo

“The department finds that in consideration of the state plan, expansion of Juniper Ridge Landfill meets short-term and long-term capacity needs of the state,” the decision reads. “The department further finds that adding 11.9 million cubic yards of capacity is reasonable.”

As justification for its decision, the DEP noted Maine’s increasing per capita waste stream, how long it takes to license new landfill space, the unpredictability of sewer sludge management options, and the lack of waste diversion infrastructure.

DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim’s decision can be appealed to the Board of Environmental Protection and the Maine courts, and several opponents of the proposed expansion, like the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, say they are prepared to challenge the decision.

“This decision recklessly gambles with public health and the environment,” said Alexandra St. Pierre, the director of communities and toxics in the foundation’s Environmental Justice Program. “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.”

She continued: “We refuse to allow this dangerous expansion to proceed unchecked.”

The foundation and other opponents say the Old Town location of the facility unfairly places the burden of the state’s trash needs on the Penobscot Nation. The leachate that Juniper Ridge produces when it rains is sent to a nearby paper mill sewer plant that discharges into the Penobscot River.

In response to resident feedback, the DEP attached some conditions to the public benefits determination: install a DEP-approved system to treat the water that leaches from the landfill for forever chemicals, hire of a third-party consultant to conduct an odor analysis of the landfill and the surrounding area, increase the number of landfill gas scans and repair leaks when found, and set up a notification system to inform the public about landfill events as they happen.

Juniper Ridge Landfill is owned by the state and managed by the Bureau of General Services, which subcontracts landfill operations to a division of Casella. The Vermont-based waste management giant operates landfills and composting facilities across New England.

Juniper Ridge was first opened under another name as a 68-acre paper mill landfill in 1993. In 2004, the state bought the landfill and hired Casella to manage it. In 2017, the state approved an expansion of 9.35 million cubic yards. This proposed expansion would add another 11.9 million cubic yards.

The amount of waste heading to Maine landfills has increased 34% between 2018 and 2022, according to DEP. Sludge that was once spread on agricultural fields is now landfilled due to forever chemical contamination. The amount of municipal solid waste landfilled during that time jumped 47%.

While some people say Maine is not doing enough to divert waste from the landfills – for example, a bill that would have required large food waste generators to recycle their scraps at a nearby facility died on the appropriations table – others object to Casella as the facility operator.

Casella clashed with some municipal leaders and state lawmakers when it refused to accept the biosolids created by wastewater treatment plants at Juniper Ridge out of fear that the mushy slop, or sludge, was causing structural instability that could lead to the landfill’s collapse.