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.