A hearing on a pair of appeals of an expansion of an amended license for Juniper Ridge Landfill will be held before the Board of Environmental Protection on June 19.
In September 2012, the state’s Bureau of General Services and NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC, a susbsidiary of Cassella Waste systems that operates the landfill for the state, filed an application to remove the restrictions and limitations placed on the disposal of in-state municipal solid waste (MSW) at JRL. Requested was approval to dispose of up to 123,000 tons per year of in-state MSW at the landfill, although that amount was later amended to 93,000 tons, with the remaining 30,000 tons to be disposed of at the PERC plant in Orrington.
Last December, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection gave conditional approval of the amended license, with conditional approval for the disposal of no more than 81,800 tons per year of MSW at Juniper Ridge. That led to appeals being filed by both Ed Spencer of Old Town and the Bureau of General Services, along with NEWSME.
In Spencer’s appeal he contended that the DEP erred when it concluded the unprocessed MSW at Juniper Ridge complied with state policy and its solid waste management hierarchy. He also raised concerns about traffic and environmental issues and Cassella’s financial stability.

The state and NEWSME, meanwhile, argued that the DEP erred by applying the waste hierarchy as a permitting standard to the application, and attached several special conditions to the license that have no lawful foundation.

The Department itself, however, maintains there is no foundation to those appeals. It has issued a draft document recommending that both appeals be denied.

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