by Krystal Paco

Guam - Almost a decade in the making, Joseph Taitano has yet to pay a penny in fines for operating a massive illegal dumpsite on his Yigo property. The Guam Environmental Protection Agency is forced to take a step back in order to move forward with correcting the damages done at the massive illegal dump site in Yigo that poses a major threat to the island's northern aquifer.

At tomorrow's GEPA board meeting, administrator Eric Palacios will motion to rescind previous administrative penalty orders from past administrator, Ivan Quinata as well as previous actions from the board all because the board failed to give Taitano proper notice of hearing dates, which resulted in his no show.

It was in December the board proposed a corrective action plan for Taitano that included the installation of two groundwater monitoring wells, sampling the wells semi-annually, installation of chain link fencing around the perimeter of the quarry where he was dumping debris, and an adjusted penalty of $312,000.

Although back at square one, GEPA spokesperson Tammy Jo Anderson-Taft remains confident that the regulatory agency has a strong case. Almost a decade ago GEPA issued its first notice of violation against Taitano for the evident construction debris, metallic waste, junk vehicles and parts, white goods and green waste piling up in his yard which later caught fire. Then-governor Felix Camacho declared a state of emergency due to the heavy smoke from the deep-seeded dump fire.

"We have a strong case there's obviously been violations from our point of view, and we want to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. But also that this situation is resolved as to how to properly clean up something like this and protect the water for the people of Guam," she said.

Anderson-Taft says with the help of their attorney, Happy Rons, GEPA is sure to move forward with pursuing corrective actions on the case. The regular board meeting is set for tomorrow at 4pm in the GEPA Conference Room in Tiyan.