by Ken Quintanilla
Guam - Yigo resident Joseph
Taitano claims the Guam Environmental Protection Agency is guilty of the very
crimes the government has accused him of.
KUAM News ran into the former mayoral candidate while he was doing research
at the Superior Court today for a countersuit against the Guam EPA. Taitano claims the government illegally
dumped the debris from a massive fire on to his wife's property.
While he has yet to file the countersuit, Taitano says he intends
to seek $2,000 in damages per day from the very agency that issued a notice of
violation to him for illegal dumping. He said, "They have to pay. They
have to move those materials. It is
still on my property as we speak and the dump truck cut off my power and the
service drop and I have five grandchildren without power for over two years."
The government is suing Taitano and his wife, Rosalind, for $250,000
in damages and $3.6 million in penalties for allegedly operating an illegal
dump on their Yigo property for years.
Taitano has filed a motion to dismiss claiming a lack of prosecution and
alleging the government cannot seek damages for more than three years. Taitano
contends he doesn't own the property and never made a penny off the illegal
dumping that occurred there.
A hearing is set for this Friday in the Superior Court.
