District Court of Guam Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood has officially issued her order to close the Ordot Dump on Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. with a ceremony that includes the locking of its gates.
She also ordered the ceremonial opening of the Layon Landfill and the opening of the new landfill gates on Sept. 1 at 10 a.m.
What prompted the closure of the decades-old dump was a 2004 consent decree agreement that the government of Guam entered into for violations of the Clean Water Act because of leachate discharge from the dump entering the nearby Lonfit River.
Four years later, after hearing constant excuses from GovGuam, particularly the Department of Public Works and Guam Environmental Protection Agency, the federal government, according to court documents, determined “there was … a lack of commitment by the island’s leaders in addressing the solid waste crisis.”
