The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed the removal of 31,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with heavy metals and PCBs at the former Dededo waste transfer station.
The 10-acre site, which began operations in 1984, has also served as a typhoon debris staging area, a site for hazardous household waste, garbage, tires and private recycling operations, according to U.S. EPA.
The transfer station closed in 2015, but waste continued to be dumped there.
“Over the years, conditions at the site deteriorated significantly,” U.S. EPA stated in a news release. Fencing around the site "was in poor condition and signs of illegal dumping of wastes were present, indicating unauthorized access. Threats to human health and the environment included the risk of exposure to fine-grained, highly mobile, contaminated soils through inhalation/ingestion or direct contact, and the spread of contamination offsite.”
U.S. EPA said contaminants included lead and other metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides and petroleum hydrocarbons.
Guam EPA formally asked for help from the federal government in December 2016, and an assessment of debris piles began in 2019.
Early last year, U.S. EPA began separating large debris from the soil, then treated, sampled and disposed of contaminated soil at regulated waste disposal facilities.
Guam EPA provided a portion of the $14.5 million needed for the cleanup, according to U.S. EPA.
More information about the cleanup effort is available at the U.S. EPA's website.
