Environmental groups are concerned about a draft decision from the Department of Environmental Protection that brings Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town one step closer to expanding.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has issued a draft decision approving the expansion's public benefit determination, despite opposition from the Penobscot Nation, area residents and environmental groups.
Opponents have brought up concerns about odors and contamination from the PFAS-filled sludge at the landfill.
Alexandra St. Pierre with the Conservation Law Foundation said the group was disappointed by the draft approval and wants the department to give greater weight to comments from the public.
"We're hoping that Maine DEP will stop making this unnecessary space for waste and make more space for people's voices and the real needs of the community," she said.
In the draft, the department outlines several conditions of the approval, including conducting an odor study and installing a system for treating landfill leachate for PFAS.
Dana Colihan with the environmental nonprofit Slingshot said it's insulting for the DEP to say the expansion is consistent with environmental justice for the surrounding community.
"When we think about the odors, the air pollution, the contamination of the Penobscot River from the minimally treated leachate, and how all these factors threaten the Penobscot Nation and working-class Mainers living and the surrounding communities, I can't fathom how the state can argue that this fulfills the required environmental justice criteria," Colihan said.
The draft is available for public comment until Friday, Sept. 27, and the DEP is expected to publish the final decision Wednesday, Oct. 2.
