The family that fought a Maine landfill leaves their town behind

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 14, 2026

Debbie Cooper left Heartland five years ago. Grassroots protests and an unsuccessful legal action against Maine regulators drew hostility in this rural community of 1,600 about an hour north of Augusta. The ill will continued even after residents voted in 2021 to spend $3.5 million to expand the town-owned landfill, and it eventually drove Cooper to Carmel. Now her son’s family is leaving the home four generations of Coopers have occupied, citing the same odors and tensions that pushed his mother out. The Coopers’ story shows how the regional problem of deciding where to put growing mounds of waste from industry and construction can carry serious consequences for families.