by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News Sunday, October 16, 2005 Subscribe to Clynt's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

The Navy says it has completed its cleanup of the polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and other toxic chemicals that have been found in the soil near the Agana Power Plant. However the mayor of Mongmong is not fully satisfied with the efforts of the federal government.

In 1949 the old Agana Power Plant was built and operated in what is now the village of Mongmong by the Navy until it was turned over to the Government of Guam after the closure of the Naval Air Station in 1995. Before 1989 the Agana Power Plant used PCBs as cooling oils for its electrical transformers and switching gears. After the Navy handed over the power plant to GovGuam PCBs, dioxins, and other toxic contaminants were found in the soils in and around the plant.

According to Lieutenant Arwen Chisholm of the Navy's Public Affairs Office, last week the Navy has completed the last of its cleanup efforts. Guam Environmental Protection Agency acting administrator Randall Sablan says that confirmation sampling of the last cleanup site showed higher levels of PCB than the rules of cleanup allowed for. "The process is to go back and take what they call a spot removal they generally I think in this case involved less than one cubic yard of soil," he said.

Sablan explained that at this point the rest of the site should be deemed clean.

Mongmong mayor Andrew Villagomez says that although the Navy is attempting to clean the sites he doesn't think that they're doing enough. "I think not only should they test the soil and the fish and everything but I think they should go as far as giving health checks for the families that have lived and grown up in that area," he explained.

He says it's weird that so many of the people who grew up eating the catfish and tilapia out of the Agana Swamp have been dying of cancer. In May 2000 the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service conducted various tests on the areas in and around the old Agana Power Plant and held several meetings with residents who grew up in the area.

In September 2000 ATSDR concluded that none of the contaminants from the power plant posed and immediate public health threat. Despite their findings Mayor Villagomez isn't convinced that residents weren't at risk due to their exposure to the contaminants. "I think they're biased in what they've been looking for and what they've found," he told KUAM News.

Since then the ATSDR has continued to hold meetings with villagers explaining their findings and filing comments from the residents of Mongmong. Mayor Villagomez was present at many of these village meetings and is still not satisfied with the results, adding, "I think it was a little on the dog and pony show kind of stuff you know the constituents down there wanted more."

He says that residents of Mongmong requested that their bodies be tested for traces of contaminants, but says that their requests have gone unheeded.