AUGUSTA – The public will have an opportunity Friday to comment on several proposed bills dealing with the state’s solid waste and landfill laws.

Four bills before the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Natural Resources have surfaced recently in response to the West Old Town Landfill deal.

The public is scheduled to air comments and concerns starting at 9 a.m. Friday, April 29, at the Cross State Office Building in Room 214. The committee is scheduled to hold work sessions on the bills Thursday, May 5.

The three-way landfill deal among the state, Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Casella Waste Systems was designed to keep G-P’s Old Town paper mill open while addressing the state’s waste disposal problem.

The state bought the landfill site from G-P for $26 million and chose Casella, which runs the Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden, to operate it.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection approved the project on April 9, 2004. Attempts to appeal that decision have been unsuccessful.

The four bills being discussed this week deal with a variety of the state’s solid waste issues:

. LD 597, being introduced by Rep. Joanne Twomey, D-Biddeford, proposes to enhance Maine’s landfill laws and give the Penobscot Nation a voice in decisions made about the Old Town project.

The tribe is seeking to be added to the Host Community Citizens Advisory Committee, which is composed of seven residents, five from Old Town and two from Alton. The committee, formed last year, serves as a liaison between the landfill operator and the community in negotiating and reviewing contracts regarding the facility.

The bill also would require that an adjudicatory public hearing be held for an increase in the height of a landfill accepting special waste, and that the applicant shall pay the DEP’s costs in processing the application.

. LD 1076 also deals with West Old Town Landfill host communities, specifically Alton. Though not required by law, the landfill operator has granted Alton host community rights. This bill would strengthen that agreement by making Alton’s status as host community law, even if the state replaces Casella as the landfill operator, or the landfill files for an expansion permit.

. The other two bills, LD 141 and LD 880, deal with solid waste disposal requirements.

LD 141, sponsored by Sen. John L. Martin, D-Eagle Lake, is attempting to keep chemically treated construction debris manufactured elsewhere out of Maine landfills and incinerators. The fourth bill, LD 880, deals with the disposal of municipal solid waste.

To view the proposed legislation, visit www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills.