Maine judge greenlights state’s initial approval of Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion

A Penobscot County Superior Court justice has backed the state’s finding that expanding Juniper Ridge Landfill is in the public interest, according to a release from the challengers, clearing the way for the project to move forward. 

“This ruling is a setback, but it can’t bury the truth that the Penobscot Nation and local residents have brought into the open — that this landfill is part of a broken system that puts polluters’ wallets over people’s health,” Alex St. Pierre, vice president for environmental justice at Conservation Law Foundation, said in a statement. “The knowledge, persistence and power of these communities have already shifted the conversation — and that momentum will carry forward until justice is served.”

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection first issued a positive public benefit determination for the expansion in October 2024, but the Penobscot Nation and Conservation Law Foundation appealed the decision. 

In January, Justice Bruce Mallonee struck down that determination, and in March the department again found that the expansion was in the public interest. The groups returned to court in July, where opponents argued the state has continued to fail to meet environmental justice standards. 

But in a statement Tuesday, the Penobscot Nation and Conservation Law Foundation said Mallonee ruled in favor of the department.

“We have fought pollution, injustice and decades of harm to heal the Penobscot River, a relative that has sustained our people since time immemorial and continues to sustain communities across Maine,” said Penobscot Nation Tribal Chief Kirk Francis. “We are not asking the state to undo generations of harm overnight. We are asking it not to take us backward. Our cultural survival is tied to the health of the Penobscot River, and there is too much at stake to keep adding to the harms it already carries.”

More than half of Maine’s landfill waste ends up at Juniper Ridge. It is owned by the state through the Bureau of General Services, which has an operating contract with NEWSME Landfill Operations, a subsidiary of waste management company Casella.

The landfill is expected to reach capacity in 2028, and in order for Casella to apply for a license to expand, the DEP must determine the expansion would benefit the public.