By Trina A. San Agustin
Variety News Staff

THE Guam Public School System announced yesterday that there will be no classes today at J.Q. San Miguel Elementary School in Toto.
The decision from the education superintendent came after the smoke from a nearby junkyard caused several students and staffers to fall ill yesterday.
According to the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, the junkyard has been the focus of an investigation for some time now.
The junkyard, identified as Lujan’s Towing and Auto Parts, has two notices of violations of environmental laws dating as far back as 2004.
GEPA spokesperson Tammy Andersen told Variety that the fire at the junkyard started on April 10.
The area where the fire erupted is used for hard filling and disposing of solid waste but Andersen said the company does not have a permit for these operations.
In 2002, the company had a permit to collect solid waste on the property. However, a notice of violation was issued on that site and its permit was rejected, said Andersen.
“We received a complaint about the property in 2006 and we issued a notice of violation because they didn’t have the proper permits to have an area on the property for hard filling and disposing of solid waste,” said Andersen.
After issuing a notice of violation, GEPA ordered the company to submit a plan on how it can resolve the issue.
A few weeks ago, the fire started again, and at that time, officials decided to cover the area with material to control the fire.
However, on Monday, GEPA received an emergency response call from the Guam Fire Department that the fire had started again.
“The material settled,” Andersen said. “It received some cracks in it which allowed oxygen to get into it, giving it enough fuel to start the fire again. We are assessing the problem and we are working at covering the area again with more material.”