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#landfill — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #landfill, aggregated by home.social.

  1. #PenobscotNation citizens rally in opposition to proposed expansion of #JuniperRidgeLandfill

    Jul. 18, 2025

    OLD TOWN/ALTON, #Maine (WABI) - "Penobscot Nation citizens rallied across the Penobscot County court Friday afternoon in opposition to a proposed expansion to Maine’s largest #landfill.

    "The rally was in response to the #ConservationLawFoundation and the Penobscot Nation appealing an expansion to #JuniperRidgeLandfill, which will allow #CasellaWasteSystems to expand Juniper Ridge by 11.9 million cubic yards.

    "According to members of the #WabanakiAlliance, the expansion would pose a threat to surrounding #TribalLands due to concerns of air and #WaterPollution surrounding the #PenobscotRiver from the landfill.

    "Speakers at the rally represented citizens of the Penobscot Nation, the Wabanaki Alliance, as well as the environmental groups #Slingshot and #DontWasteME.

    " 'It is incredibly powerful to see the number of people out here in opposition to this expansion and support of this appeal. We know the time for #EnvironmentalJustice is now. We need to turn the tide towards #ZeroWaste,' said #DanaColihan, Co-Executive Director of environmental group Slingshot.

    " 'I just hope that the state can get serious about actual environmental justice, and Casella can implement some practices that it make it so that they don’t have to bring out of state waste to stabilize our sludge, and really find solutions instead of creating more problems with us,' stated #MaulianBryant, Executive Director of the Wabanaki Alliance."

    Read more:
    wabi.tv/2025/07/18/penobscot-n

    #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #MaineResists #PFAS #PenobscotRiver #Casella #ProtectTheSacred #Wabanaki #Wabanakik #NativeAmericanNews #MaineNews

  2. This is the kind of BULLSHIT that the #PenobscotNation have been dealing with for years! WTF!

    #Maine opens door for #landfill expansion despite community objections

    By: Emma Davis - October 3, 2024

    "The #JuniperRidgeLandfill is a step closer to an expansion that would allow for roughly 11 more years of use, despite continued objections from local residents and advocates concerned about the landfill’s impact on air and water quality in the region.

    "In a decision released Wednesday, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Melanie Loyzim determined there is a substantial public benefit from a proposal to increase the capacity of the facility in #OldTown and Alton, which means the #Casella subsidiary that operates it can now submit an application for a license to expand the facility.

    "The decision has not stymied opposition. The #ConservationLawFoundation, an environmental advocacy organization, is prepared to challenge the determination, according to director of communities and toxics Alexandra St. Pierre.

    "'This decision recklessly gambles with public health and the environment,' St. Pierre wrote in a statement following the decision. '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. We refuse to allow this dangerous expansion to proceed unchecked.'

    "Juniper Ridge Landfill is owned by the state but managed by the Bureau of General Services, which contracts with #NEWSMELandfill Operations, LLC, a subsidiary of the waste management company #CasellaWasteManagement.

    "Opened in 1993 and last expanded in 2017, the landfill currently disposes of just over half of landfill waste in Maine and is expected to exhaust its current capacity by 2028. BGS has proposed expanding the landfill by 61 acres, which at the current fill rate of about 1 million cubic yards of waste per year, would allow for roughly 11 more years of use.

    "The #MaineDEP concluded that Casella’s proposed expansion is needed to meet Maine’s short- and long-term waste capacity needs and is consistent with the state’s waste reduction plans. From 2018 to 2022, Maine’s landfill waste increased by 24%. Waste generation continues to increase at approximately 5.6% per year.

    "Further, the DEP determined that the expansion doesn’t conflict with #EnvironmentalJustice [BULLSHIT] — a new factor that had to be considered under a state law passed in 2021 — that is, as long as Casella meets a few conditions.

    Environmental justice was among the concerns raised by environmental groups, local residents and the Penobscot Nation during public comment.

    "The public argued there was insufficient treatment of landfill leachate — water that collects chemicals after passing through the waste — specifically for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, otherwise known as PFAS, which runs into the #PenobscotRiver.

    "The Penobscot Nations’s reservation at Indian Island is located FIVE MILES from the landfill and also includes the Penobscot River, along which Juniper Ridge is located."

    Read more:
    mainemorningstar.com/2024/10/0
    #WaterIsLife #PFAS #PenobscotRiver #Biosolids #WabanakiConfederacy #EnvironmentalDestruction #EnvironmentalRacism

  3. 'It's killing us': Public reacts to proposed expansion of #JuniperRidgeLandfill

    Story by Katie Delaney
    7/16/2024

    "'#JuniperRidge has destroyed the life of people who live around it. At times, it has destroyed part of the #PenobscotRiver; it has destroyed part of our air, water, and land,' Don White, a Bucksport resident, said.

    "Public commenters expressed concerns about harmful #emissions, #landfill fires, and #PFAS contamination coming from the facility.

    "Many of the people speaking out said Juniper Ridge is an example of #EnvironmentalInjustice, particularly for the #PenobscotNation.

    "'It's killing us,' #KathyPaul, a Penobscot Nation Elder, said. 'I just feel like I'm sitting here waiting to die, and I don't mean to be an extremist or anything like that, but I'm really afraid. I can smell the difference already.'"

    newscentermaine.com/article/te

    #WaterIsLife #JuniperRidgeLandfill #CasellaWasteSystems #MaineNews #Maine #ToxicFire #PFASPollution
    #WabanakiAlliance
    #DontWasteME #Slingshot #EnvironmentalJustice

  4. [It seems that today's vote was in favor of expanding #JuniperRidge]

    Juniper Ridge Landfill is one step closer to expanding
    Maine Public | By Kaitlyn Budion

    Published September 20, 2024 at 1:22 PM EDT

    "#Environmental groups are concerned about a draft decision from the Department of Environmental Protection that brings #JuniperRidgeLandfill in #OldTown 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 #PenobscotNation, area residents and #EnvironmentalGroups.

    "Opponents have brought up concerns about odors and contamination from the #PFAS-filled sludge at the #landfill.

    "Alexandra St. Pierre with the #ConservationLawFoundation 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 #EnvironmentalJustice for the surrounding community.

    '"When we think about the odors, the #AirPollution, the #contamination of the #PenobscotRiver 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."

    mainepublic.org/environment-an

    #WaterIsLife #SunlightMediaCollective
    #JuniperRidgeLandfill
    #CasellaWasteSystems #MaineNews #Maine #ToxicFire #PFASPollution
    #WabanakiAlliance
    #DontWasteME #Slingshot