Rhino Beetle Infestation Still Spreading on Guam

THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST 2011 02:36 BY ZITA Y. TAITANO | VARIETY NEWS STAFF

THE infamous Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle is spreading further and it’s not just from coconut tree to coconut tree.

Roland Quitugua, operations chief for the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Program, recently informed village leaders that the species is now travelling via illegal green waste dumpsites. Zita Y. Taitano / Variety

During a recent special meeting with the Mayors’ Council, Roland Quitugua, operations chief for the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Program, informed village leaders that the species is now travelling via illegal green waste dumpsites.

Green waste refers to plants, branches and leaves piled up and not properly disposed of.

“It is currently moving and how it’s moving is from green waste pile to pile,” he said.

Quitugua recently met with Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares about the problem, especially since Dededo is heavily infested with the beetle in areas like Swamp Road and the transfer station.

He also said that since people are being charged for the green waste because of the tipping fee, they are just dumping along the side of the road. Thus, the people who end up picking them up are the mayor’s road crews.

“As long as we have a green waste problem on this island, we have a losing battle,” he stressed.

The latest breeding site discovered was at Cross Island Road near Santa Rita on Bishop Apuron Loop.

“Asan, Piti, Nimitz Hill ... those areas are hot right now and the infestation is heading down towards Polaris Point where someone had a green waste site,” he said.

Quitugua pleaded with the mayors to inform their constituents about the worsening situation.

“As much as I hate to say it, burning is the option right now; and if you have compost piles, the beetles will breed in as shallow as 5 inches,” he said.

The beetles have reportedly started breeding in ornamental palm trees found on the island.

The eradication program has also obtained a permit to bring in a bio-controlled fungus to bring the infestation down.

Still, Quitugua said funding is an issue for the program. They are $200,000 short for current operations for the next fiscal year, but are actively seeking local and federal sources to augment costs.

Public still can comment: Dededo residents brace for changes

Public still can comment: Dededo residents brace for changes

By Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News • January 13, 2010














Hearing: Chamorro activists raise their fists and cheer on the testimony of We Are Guahan group's Melvin Won Pat-Borja at the last public hearing on the Guam/CNMI Military Relocation draft Environmental Impact Statement. The hearing was held at Okkodo High School, yesterday. (Jacqueline Hernandez/Pacific Daily News/jhernande7)


Although the public hearings in Guam are over, residents who still want to comment on the military buildup draft Environmental Impact Statement haven't lost their chance.

You can still submit comments through the Internet or mail, and those comments will be considered the same as those that were presented publicly over the last week.

All comments must be accepted, some comments may reshape the military's plans and some comments won't get a response, retired Marine Corps Col. John Jackson, director of the Joint Guam Program Office, said last night.

"Some of them may be 'Yankee go home' and others may be 'Hey, we are glad you are here,'" Jackson said. "That doesn't really help the decision making. That part of the process of getting comments is to assist the decision-makers, ... to give them the best information from all aspects."

Population

The final hearing last night was held at the Okkodo High School gym and many residents of Dededo attended to learn more about the busy future of their village. Dededo already is the most populous village on Guam, and the coming military buildup will only congest the village even more. The buildup is estimated to bring about 80,000 more people to Guam by 2014, according to the draft Environmental Impact Study.

John G. San Nicolas worries it may be too much. With more residents on island, everyone will have to compete over limited resources, from the shady spots at the beach to the last table at a restaurant, he said.

"With just the sheer number of people on this island, being in such a small confined space, it's only natural to expect that friction is going to occur," he said. "And friction could occur in different places -- the beach, the roads, going to the mall, parties -- from the mere fact that the frequency of us meeting each other is higher."

Many of new residents who move to Guam for the buildup will end up living in the Ukudu Workforce Village, a massive housing facility with all the makings of an entire community, that will be built not far from where the hearing was held last night.

Guam-based Younex Enterprises Corp and a South Korean construction company have already agreed to work together to build the housing facility in the Harmon Annex south of the Navy's south Finegayan housing.

According to Pacific Daily News files, the facility will feed workers and transport them to their jobs and other activities. The facility will include its own 24-hour medical clinics, religious services, entertainment, laundry, banking, convenience stores and emergency services.

The entire project should be finished by 2013, when buildup-related construction is booming. San Nicolas, who lives close to where the housing will be built, worried the facility would bring no benefit to Dededo. Although the buildup promises to bolster the local economy, the facility sounds like it will create an economic vacuum, he said.

If workers in the housing will be imported, much of the money they earn will go off island, he said. And if the workers get their food, services and fun inside the facility, their earnings won't flow through the economy, he said.

"Do I think they are going to infuse that hard-earned money they get from working here into the local economy? Probably not as much," he said. "Do I see them buying any property here? No. ... Do I see them investing in the economy such as going out and shopping at Kmart or eating at Chili's? No."

San Nicolas also worried the housing facility, which will be as big as a village, could bring all the problems of a village -- including crime.

"If it's such a close community, who knows what happens in there. There could be prostitution and there could be gambling. ... If they are totally self-contained, every society has their vices," San Nicolas said.

Final DEIS hearing held in Dededo

Final DEIS hearing held in Dededo

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 3:36 AM PST
by Nick Delgado

Guam - The public hearings on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement concluded Tuesday evening at Okkodo High School in Dededo. And this time the hearing drew a variety of opinions with residents wanting to first weigh-in on their options before making any final decisions to accept the military buildup.

Hundreds made it to the final hearing on the DEIS held by the Joint Guam Program Office. Residents filed into the school's cafeteria in the hopes to be sold on the idea to have U.S. Marines relocated to Guam, but some continue to keep their guard up.

Others have heard by word of mouth from their peers that more youth in the community have been and should continue to get involved in the DEIS process. That was the reason Yigo resident James Wolford made it to the last hearing. Wolford says after now attending the hearing, he plans to become more proactive when it comes to decision making on the buildup.

He said, "My decisions not clear right now because I have a lot of family members in the United States military; but then again, for the benefit for my people and the island. We're moving so far away from our culture and traditions."

Wolford fears that more island residents are leaving the island as the military buildup approaches, but he is confident that as long as the future generations continue the traditions, that there is hope for the people of Guam.

Ricardo Cruz added, "Aside from the cultural stuff, we are Americans and that's the reason why my tendency is accepting this, and let's move, because it's just an out for Guam with the rot and the economy that we've been going through these past few years." Cruz, a Dededo resident and retired Marine Ricardo Cruz meanwhile believes the buildup will provide positive growth and opportunity for the island. He is optimistic that the island's shortfalls will change overnight once the Marines settle in.

JGPO officials will now head to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to allow our neighbors in Tinian and Saipan a chance to comment on the DEIS.

Make your voices heard: Dededo, Yigo mayors urge residents to testify on buildup

Make your voices heard: Dededo, Yigo mayors urge residents to testify on buildup

By Erin Thompson • Northern Weekly • January 6, 2010

Fears of condemnation of private property, inaccessible hiking trails, a proposed firing range and the relocation of Route 15 are some of the buildup issues worrying residents in the northern part of Guam, according to Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares and Yigo Mayor Robert Lizama.

Residents in the northern part of the island will have an opportunity to voice concerns about how the buildup will affect their community at two public hearings next week. The first will happen on Monday at the Yigo Gymnasium, the second at Dededo's Okkodo High School on Jan. 12.

The hearings are a part of an island-wide process allowing residents to make comments in response to the draft Environmental Impact Statement released in November. The 11,000-page EIS, which is available for review at the University of Guam Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Library in Mangilao and the mayors' offices in Yigo, Dededo, Barrigada, Agat and Mangilao, provides a break-down of the social and environmental impact of the buildup.

Yigo Mayor Robert Lizama says that while only four people to date have come by to browse the EIS and take home a copy of the available CD, he has heard many residents express "frustration" over some of the proposed changes to the area, which include the construction of a firing range along the island's northeast coast. The range would require the leasing or condemnation between 1,100 and 1,800 acres along Route 15 in Mangilao and Yigo, according to the Northern Weekly files.

Dededo resident Anthony Artero, who is planning on attending the hearing next week, told Northern Weekly that he is concerned about how the increased population could strain water and power infrastructure and increase traffic flow on the island. He also pointed to fears about how the rights of property owners would be affected, citing his family's own personal experience.

According to Artero, whose family owns land at Urunao in the Ritidian area, prior to World War II the family owned the land at Anderson Air Force Base, only to see it condemned after the war and bought for a fraction of its value.

"The U.S. military on this island has a track record of treating the people locally unfairly, in terms of taking their land away," says Artero, who says he fear islanders could face land condemnations or restrictions on land development following the buildup.

His biggest concern, however, was that the U.S. military was "not giving the local people an opportunity to be part of the buildup," he says.

As one of the key opportunities for islanders to get their voices on the record about the buildup, Savares says that the Dededo's mayor's office is working hard to get the word out about the hearings.

"We're trying aggressively," says Savares, who says her office is reaching out through media, at public events and by word of mouth, and even sending home messages through school children to get parents to attend.

"It's important that individuals, that residents come out to these hearings, and be heard and see what the EIS -- the findings, the draft studies -- are," says Savares.

"Because it's in draft form now and all comments will really be taken into consideration once final decision is made," she says.

"We want our residents who live here to be heard, make a difference making comments."

Landowners oppose GLUC roadway decision

Landowners oppose GLUC roadway decision

By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • January 4, 2010

Some Harmon Annex landowners are opposed to the Guam Land Use Commission's decision to grant Younex International sections of Dededo land to build a 100-foot wide roadway that they said will take away from their properties.

Ike Pangelinan, a 57-year-old landowner, said the commission did not adequately inform all the landowners in the area before making its decision at a Dec. 10, 2009 public hearing.

Meeting

The landowners called a meeting yesterday, and only one of them, Terry Aguon, said she received a letter from the Department of Land Management outlining how the parcels of land is to be used.

Now they are asking that the department call a meeting with the landowners and all the major stakeholders so they can share their concerns.

"They skipped me," Pangelinan said. "And right now it is already passed."

According to the letter sent to Terry Aguon dated Nov. 23, 2009, Parcel J and Parcel K, which includes several lots owned by various landowners, would be reviewed by the GLUC as public access or utilities right-of-way.

Right-of-way

"Should these easements be known as Public Access or Utilities Right-of-Way, it will allow for its improvement and placement of other critical infrastructure that will benefit you as well," the letter stated.

Some of the parcels and lots, which are located off of Route 3 in Dededo and known as the Harmon Annex, were transferred from the federal government to the Government of Guam and are under the administration of the Department of Public Works.

The planned easement would allow for Younex to develop a road that will be needed for the new Ukudu Workforce Village, which is a temporary workforce housing facility for thousands of foreign laborers needed for the military buildup.

'Terrible' decision

Aguon called the land commission's decision "terrible." She noted how for one small plot of land, Lot 5315, the planned road cuts through it.

Many were left with questions they said need answering.

"Under what circumstances did they sign off on that thing? How did it get that far?" Michael Aguon, 46, asked at yesterday's meeting.

Department of Land Management officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

David Tydingco, senior vice-president for Younex, said they, too, are experiencing similar problems that the landowners are facing.

"When we got the property, it also identified that we had limitations on how we can build our facility because pre-existing easements were there," Tydingco said. "So we are under the same dilemma that the other landowners have. We are very limited to how we can develop our property based on the easements that were pre-existing when we acquired the property."

He added that Younex has no choice but "to follow the authorities on this."

Housing facility

Last month, a South Korean construction company signed a $200 million contract with Guam-based Younex Enterprises Corp. to build an 18,000-bed facility in Dededo to house the thousands of temporary workers coming for the buildup.

The deal was signed by STX Group Chairman Duck-soo Kang and Younex Enterprises Chairman Kil Koo Yoon on Dec. 22, 2009. The housing facility will be located in the Harmon Annex adjacent to the Navy's South Finegayan family housing facility.

Younex already started the site surveying and preliminary groundwork that would lead to the opening of the first phase of the project in October 2010. It is expected to be completed around 2013 and require about 400 workers, according to Pacific Daily News files.

Dededo Town Hall Meeting on Military Move Planned

Dededo town hall meeting on military moved planned
By John Davis
Published Jan 6, 2009

KUAM News has learned the Joint Guam Program Office will be holding a town hall meeting later this month to provide an update on planning efforts relative to the buildup of troops. Dededo mayor Melissa Savares says JGPO will also provide an update on government land in the village the feds have been looking at for their use.

"They're looking at expanding a little bit more than what hey have in the village and it's not that they want to take Chamorro Land Trust Property, but they want to lease Chamorro Land Trust property," the mayor explained.

According to Savares, the town hall meeting is scheduled for January 21 at 6:30pm at the Dededo Senior Center. KUAM has been unable to confirm with JGPO whether similar town hall meetings are planned for other villages.