OLD TOWN, Maine (WABI) – A handful of organizations alongside Penobscot Nation citizens and those living around Old Town gathered to rally against the proposed expansion of Juniper Ridge Landfill.
After a ceremony and songs, speakers touched on why they felt the expansion would be problematic for the area.
“Today was a water ceremony and rally for the river. It was organized by Penobscot Nation Elders and Citizens, Don’t Waste ME, Sunlight Media Collective, and Slingshot. And it was really to kind of call awareness of the injustice of Juniper Ridge Landfill, rally for solutions, and protect the Penobscot River,” explained Dana Colihan, Co-executive Director of Slingshot, an environmental organization.
“The state has initially approved that sort of expansion and the people here, including a bunch of people here from Penobscot Nation, but also local community folks from Old Town and surrounding communities, we all wanted to raise awareness of this possibility and call attention to the fact that this is just not a sustainable life affirming thing is to expand that landfill without having other plans and other ways of addressing our ongoing waste issues,” said Penobscot Nation Citizen and University of Maine Professor, Darren Ranco.
They say the location of the landfill is already less than ideal and expansion would pose a more significant risk of pollution.
“There’s a bunch of chemicals and liquid that is created called leachate, and the threat of that leaking into the Penobscot River and destroying any of the ecosystems, ad our relations as non-humans, and impacting public health is immense. And where its located and how it’s at the confluence at a couple of streams that flow into the Penobscot River is one of the worst designs that I think I’ve ever seen,” noted Ranco.
Those who spoke say the state and the landfill’s owner shouldn’t have taken in out of state waste.
“There’s an inherent contradiction when you have a company that profits off of the disposal of waste that are operating this state-owned resource. And so, we’ve seen this landfill fill up way faster than it ever should have. About a third of the waste in that landfill is from out of state and that had been supposed to be illegal from the outside,” stated Colihan.
“Casella, which manages Juniper Ridge, has resisted all of those efforts to reduce the amount coming in and even address sort of in other facilities how to make sure we are not just the dumping grounds for the rest of New England,” added Ranco.
They also voiced the need for long term waste solutions.
“This is just another band-aid which will produce more waste impacting the same communities and it will not secure our future for any kind of just or sustainable process,” Ranco said.
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