HAVING watched from the sidelines for many years, I can’t stand idle and remain silent while inaction and dilatory tactics are being employed by our government with regard to the closure of the Ordot Dump.
For more than half a century, the Ordot Dump has served as our island’s final destination for the trash everyone generates. The dump exceeded its full capacity since 1994 and the approximately 45-acre land in Ordot continues to operate unlined; having few to no control systems in place to manage landfill gas, leachate, surface water, erosion, sedimentation, and vectors.
Even as the dump was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priority List of highly contaminated and hazardous substance sites in 1982, that wasn’t enough for officials to do something about it.
The Legislature has time and time again passed mandates that sought to close the dump. We were told that Ordot would cease operations and a new landfill would be constructed by May 1997 because the dump reached its peak in 1994.
Yet again, in 1998, our elected officials said the dump was slated to close by July 1998 then extended for July 1999 after passing legislation that established the “tipping” and “user” fees which created the Solid Waste Operations Fund of which $4 million was to be appropriated for the Dump’s closure after many years of excuses that the dump’s closure was never adequately funded.
However, because DPW was unsuccessful in collecting and billing, the dump remains open today and the perennial problem of collecting and billing persists.
In more recent developments, the U.S. EPA has taken the Government of Guam to court and a Federal Consent Decree (Civil Case No. 02-000022) was entered into, ordering the opening of a new sanitary landfill by September 2007 and the closure of Ordot by October of the same year with specific timelines.
Despite explicit deadlines that must be adhered to, I am reminded of an old saying: if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. And there is no exception in this situation. Our government has constantly missed deadlines and as a result, has been assessed hefty fines and penalties while there’s no light at the end of the tunnel that the dump would ever be closed.
What’s even more disappointing is that the government still hasn’t acquired the property of the proposed site in Dandan and it seems to me that although officials maintain the right of eminent domain, nothing is being done. So what is it? Either you make arrangements to buy the land, invoke the right of eminent domain, or move on to the Guatali site that was originally selected.
What’s with the delay? Environmental Impact Statements, tests after tests and technical consultants being brought on board, but what is the end result? Nothing! We’re still left to deal with the environmental nightmare on first base.
And following the legal settlement in the face of a consent decree being entered into, an Executive Order 2004-002 was signed ordering the priority handling of all matters relating to the Consent Decree. But again, we just have so many orders, decrees, contracts, that I’m beginning to believe are not worth the ink put into paper anymore.
At the same time, we have representatives from our government responding to the feds who oppose any modification to the consent decree say: “Leave it in the hands of the local government, we’re staying the course.” Gosh, I guess there’s no wonder why we haven’t even gone anywhere with that type of mentality. It’s just business as usual and an ostensible appearance of oblivion. But, I’m glad the U.S. Attorney’s Office has called GovGuam’s request for a timeline modification “meritless.” They can’t even comply with what they originally agreed to and then ask for an extension. Go figure!
In the meantime, I’m still unconvinced that any immediate resolution will happen and it pains me to know that the residents of Ordot will just have to sit back, wait, wait, and continue to wait because there’s no hope the dump will close by October 2007. There was never any hope to begin with.

JOSE LIZAMA GUMATAOTAO
Ordot, Guam