Maine lawmakers are considering a bill that would amend a 21-year-old state law that prohibits the expansion of commercial landfills. In this case, it's the Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock that wants an option to expand. The landfill's owner says without that ability, Crossroads may be forced to halt operations. But the company faces opposition from the Maine State Planning Office and the Department of Environmental Protection, as well as from local residents and its competitors.

The Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock, operated by Waste Management, is the sole remaining commercial solid waste landfill in Maine. Not only does it have several large municipal customers, but district manager Jeff McGown told a legislative committee it also has several large industrial ones, including Fraser Paper and Bath Iron Works.

"And at this time we manage in Norridgewock 100 percent of Bath Iron Works solid waste and recycling needs," McGown said. "So there is ample need for our facility to keep going, and urge you again to support this, as we feel we're very much in need for the state of Maine."

Just three months ago, the commercially-operated Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden stopped operations under an agreement reached with the DEP, the town of Hampden and Casella Waste Systems. DEP had concluded that there was sufficient capacity elsewhere in the state.

Casella is now questioning why lawmakers would change the 1989 law designed to limit the importation of out-of-state waste and give Waste Management a competitive advantage, especially when there is not currently a capacity issue.

But Jim Mitchell, speaking on behalf of Waste Management, says that may not always be the case. "I'm not suggesting that Maine would ever move towards landfilling as the preferred alternative, but we do need to keep in mind that in the overall scheme of things we have very few solid waste disposal facilities here in Maine."

And, says Mitchell, the company serves the needs of more than 40 communities in central Maine. He says the proposed bill would secure the landfill's future.

But in written comments to the Natural Resources Committee, both the director of the State Planning Office and the commissioner of the DEP question why the bill is necessary when Crossroads has an estimated 12 to 14 years of remaining life.

Waste Management's District Manager Jeff McGown says the long lead time is necessary to secure permits and begin construction of future facilities. Some Norridgewock residents are skeptical.

"I'm going to tell the committee, and I'd like to tell the whole state of Maine, that this bill is totally asinine," said Gloria Frederick. Frederick and her husband own more than 250 acres directly across the road from the landfill. Her husband was born in their house long before Crossroads came to town 36 years ago.

"The state has had 20 years, from 1989 to 2010, to come up with a plan for disposal of garbage, of solid waste," Frederick said. "They have done absolutely nothing in 20 years. They are promoting the least thing there is on the hierarchy list for garbage disposal."

According to the State Planning Office and the DEP, Crossroads could continue to grow if this bill is passed. That's because the bill allows Waste Management to expand indefinitely as long as the expansion occurs on property contiguous to the exsisting facility.

Some opponents worry this will open the floodgates to the importation of more out-of-state waste. "And if they do this once, they have nothing to stand on when someone else wants to come in commercially," said Marla Bottesch, another longtime resident of Norridgewock who also questions why Waste Management is in such a hurry.

Other opponents wonder the same thing, especially given the fact that there's been no study of the need to reverse such a long-held waste management policy.