In 2003, the Legislature directed the State to acquire the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town, Maine.

[4] The landfill had been originally permitted for the disposal of pulp and paper-making wastes from Georgia-Pacific's West Old Town paper mill, as well as to burn pile ash from the City of Old Town transfer station.

On January 13, 2020, landfill oversight group Don't Waste ME and the Penobscot Indian Nation delivered petitions to the Department of Environmental Protection requiring the agency to initiate rule-making to prohibit the Juniper Ridge landfill from accepting out-of-state waste.

On September 17, 2020, the department's Board of Environmental Protection held a virtual public hearing on the petition.

In 2023, some officials supported a two-year prohibition on the landfill accepting out-of-state waste,[2] although others opposed the ban.