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EPA fines Guam Department of Public Works $58,500 for failing to comply with consent decree deadlines

Release Date: 05/08/2006
Contact Information: Wendy Chavez, 415/947-4248, chavez.wendy@epa.gov

(San Francisco, Calif.-- 05/08/2006) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today fined the Guam Department of Public Works $58,500 for missing consent decree deadlines associated with the Ordot Dump closure.

The department failed to submit a draft wetland mitigation plan by Feb. 5., and failed to award a construction contract by April 20 for the Ordot Dump closure.

“These violations highlight the department’s inability to meet critical consent decree deadlines leading to the closure of the Ordot Dump,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPA's director for water programs in the Pacific Southwest region. ‘The EPA is concerned that DPW has no reasonable plan in place to correct serious program deficiencies in order to forge ahead with a credible, sustainable integrated solid waste management plan.”

The Ordot Dump has a long history of illegal leachate discharges into the Lonfit River, fires, and public complaints about odors, rats, and mosquitoes.

The February 2004 consent decree sought to address public health and environmental issues associated with the over-capacity, out-of-compliance dump. The deadlines are part of the consent decree ordering the construction of a new landfill and closure of the dump.

For failing to meet the wetland mitigation plan deadline, the EPA assessed $250 for each day since Feb. 6 that the plan was not submitted. The penalty accrued at that rate for the first 30 days of violation, $500 per day for the following 30 days, and $1,000 per day for each day thereafter.

For failing to award the construction contract, penalties started at $500 per day for the first 30 days, and will rise to $1,000 per day for the next 30 days, and $2,000 per day for the days following.