HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Three days post-Typhoon Mawar, Mayors Jesse Alig and Louise Rivera were frustrated by the lack of sites to dispose of large green waste, and the issue it has created for village leaders who are mired in typhoon recovery cleanup and have nowhere to stage dangerous debris such as fallen trees.
“Up to now, we have not figured it out. I will tell you this much, mayors have already started to stage their green waste, but nothing is set in stone. We are not pushing anything out. It’s the third day of recovery, and we are still trying to make sure that we can get (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimbursement,” Alig told The Guam Daily Post
He directed The Guam Daily Post to Krystal Paco-San Agustin, the governor’s director of communications, for answers.
Paco-San Agustin told the Post that Adelup was preparing to announce the sites identified, however, the list of official green waste locations was not available as of 6 p.m. Saturday.
The mayors noted that, after the typhoon, island residents weren’t waiting, and some took it upon themselves to drop off their green waste at staging sites identified in years past.
Sites already eyed
Prior to the storm, Guam’s 19 mayors identified staging sites in their villages for the Guam Environmental Protection Agency. Some of those locations, such as Oka Point in Tamuning, were identified as staging areas, but the community had yet to be informed of the sites.
Rivera, mayor of Tamuning-Tumon-Harmon, has utilized Oka Point for years as a large green waste staging area for her tri-village municipality, but more than 72 hours into Typhoon Mawar recovery efforts, she has nowhere to place the debris.
“That had always been our staging area because it’s an open (field). It’s away from the residents and I won’t have to put all my green waste on the baseball field because we have many kids that use it. They are like, ‘you have to find another staging area.’ They didn’t want green waste up there,” Rivera told the Post on Saturday.
“Because, before the storm … Alice Taijeron had put a padlock on it,” Rivera said.
Taijeron is the director of the CHamoru Land Trust Commission.
“The thing is, we have a lot of illegal dumpers that come around, and they just go in there and break the padlock and cut it, and they’re looking for parts. They’re looking for metals,” the mayor continued.
The area is also frequented by unsheltered people, she said, which has posed a problem.
“The homeless are … making more of a mess, … but we stage everything nicely and as soon as our purchase orders come out with approval, we go there with a dump truck and backhoe and load it up, and we remove it,” Rivera said.
She said she received a message from the CLTC on Friday “to cease dumping.”
“I’m like, ‘Well, it’s all over the place. How dare you talk to me about that.'” Rivera said.
The mayor told the Post she did not know the padlock was placed on Oka Point’s access gate until her office arrived there to try and stage green waste.
“That’s in public law. Whenever a government agency is going to do anything in the community, they need to let the mayors know. I didn’t even get the respect (I deserve) when she put the padlock on. That’s the thing about it,” Rivera said.
Gate locked ‘a month ago’
Rivera was told about the closure long before the typhoon, due to illegal dumping, Taijeron said,
“She was informed that Oka Point was padlocked about a month ago when we had discovered that she was allowing white goods to be placed (there) in addition to green waste,” Taijeron told the Post.
Taijeron said the dumping of white goods was a violation and had been “occurring (for) years” before she came on board with the CLTC.
“As a matter of fact, my team, while we were up there, ran into several residents, and they said they got permission from the mayor’s office to drop their white goods. That was about a month ago,” Taijeron told the Post.
Oka Point, a CLTC property, has been padlocked shut for a month, Taijeron said, but her team went to the point Saturday to check the property after learning the chain had been cut.
“It looks like there was now green waste there. It was reported that it looked like the mayor’s white truck. I don’t know,” Taijeron said, clarifying that she was not a witness of the incident.
GEPA assessment
Taijeron said she is not opposed to working with the mayor, but first wanted feedback from the Guam Environmental Protection Agency on Oka Point’s viability to stage green waste.
GEPA spokesperson Nic Lee confirmed employees of the agency were on site Saturday at Oka Point to assess the condition of the property and to ensure it was in suitable condition to accept green waste.
There is a concern centered around the reported discovery of invasive fire ants and rhinoceros beetles at the site, but, according to Lee, Rivera and her office should be expecting GEPA to sign off soon.
“At this time, we’ve determined it to be suitable for our current needs,” Lee said.
“Up to now, we have not figured it out. I will tell you this much, mayors have already started to stage their green waste, but nothing is set in stone. We are not pushing anything out. It’s the third day of recovery, and we are still trying to make sure that we can get (Federal Emergency Management Agency) reimbursement,” Alig told The Guam Daily Post
Kallem Diaz, 5, helps clean his grandparents’ yard Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Malojloj.
