by Jolene Toves

Guam - After receiving a letter from the Mayor's Council requesting for assistance in managing green waste and mitigating invasive species like the rhinoceros beetle Governor Eddie Calvo assures that he intends to work with village mayors. "But before I call an emergency we need to get a focus on what our objectives are and how we would move towards in an emergency situation in dealing with the rhinoceros beetles," he said.

Governor Calvo says many areas of concern have been brought up to him and he is aware that green waste piles around the island are breeding grounds for the rhinocerous beetle. "But the concerns I have to that point is that we also have some major wild land fires that are occurring so if we were to move towards loosening restrictions in regards to burning, we have to make sure that we don't create another problem as a result of solving one problem," he said.

Governor Calvo says he did have an opportunity to see a demonstration of an air curtain which he says appears to be a way to dispose of green waste while minimizing the risk of causing a fire. "But its amazing because you're seeing them dump logs into this device and with that there's no, other than the diesel engine that is running compresser, you have no emission coming out from the burning of those logs," he said. "It's a very interesting technology but these are areas we need to work on so aside getting rid of the green waste, what do we do now with the rhinoceros beetle infestation that is already prevelant in many of our coconut trees around the island. So this is where we're looking at coming toward solutions once we do that, once we get an idea of the game plan, I'm willing to move forward in working with everyone involved toward resolving the issue on the rhinoceros beetle."

The governor says he wants to work with the mayors, EPA, the fire department, and other key stakeholders as law is already in place. He says they must come together to identify solutions and resources.

The governor adds that he did meet with the president of Fiji as the island also had a problem with the rhinocerous beetle but beat it.