Opinion: Environmental justice requires a higher standard for Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 27, 2026

A case now before the Penobscot County court — Penobscot Nation v. Maine Department of Environmental Protection — concerns environmental justice. The dispute centers on the proposed expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. The landfill is state‑owned and operated by Casella subsidiary NEWSME, which has intervened alongside the DEP. The Penobscot Nation agrues that the agency’s analysis fails to meet the environmental justice standards required by law. The DEP ignores documented cancer disparities, leaves out key contaminants, misstates sustenance‑fishing exposure, substitutes landfill‑to‑landfill comparisons for cumulative burden analysis, and treats PFAS treatment as a cure‑all. Most importantly, it fails to meaningfully address the sovereign rights and cultural continuity of the Penobscot Nation. Maine must choose a future in which the Penobscot River — and the people who have cared for it for thousands of years — are protected without condition and without expansion. ~ John Krueger, former division director of licensing and enforcement at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection