Bill on junk cars remains stuck in Senate

A piece of legislation that hopes to address the hazards of junk cars and abandoned vehicles in the CNMI continues to gather dust as it awaits approval in the Senate.

House Bill 14-347, which seeks to appropriate $30,000 from the Department of Public Works Solid Waste Management Division to fund the removal of junk cars and for other purposes, was passed by the lower chamber in June. The bill was forwarded to the Senate in the same month for action.

The bill’s author, Rep. Justo S. Quitugua, called on the Senate to pass the bill into law as soon as possible in order to rid the island of the health and environmental problems posed by junk and abandoned vehicles.

More specifically, Quitugua said that the accumulation of junk cars in residential and government premises on Saipan has become a real concern. Motor oil and other fluids leaking from junk cars pose a hazardous threat to the environment. Junk cars also serve as nests for pests and are village eyesores, added Quitugua.

He said his bill intends to provide funding to the Saipan Mayor’s Office for the removal of junk and abandoned vehicles from residential and government premises. Under the Commonwealth Code, junk and abandoned vehicles are defined as “scrap metal.”

Samkor, a contractor for the disposal of junk cars and abandoned vehicles, said there is no contract that exists between it and the government. Samkor vice president Mariano Falig said they accept only what the Saipan Mayor’s Office brings them or asks them to tow for disposal. Falig said Samkor charges the local municipality $100 per vehicle. He said at least three cars were recently received from the local mayor’s office for disposal.

The Saipan Mayor’s Office no longer enjoys free access to the government scrap yard because the dump site is now under a private company that levies fees for depositing scrap metal.

Early reports said there are about 15,000 abandoned vehicles in several sites in the CNMI, which pose a health and environmental hazard, according to Department of Public Works Division of Solid Waste Management program manager Robert Jordan.

He said junk cars are not only eyesores but might also contain oil and other harmful chemicals and potential pollutants that could leak and endanger the environment.

“Junked vehicles could leak out coolants, oil and lead batteries,” he said, adding that the number of abandoned cars has been increasing throughout the years. Jordan said his office would look into this and both DPW and the Saipan Mayor’s Office will be involved in the disposal of the junk cars.

He said the Saipan Mayor’s Office is active in this program but its boom truck recently failed, causing the delay in the pickup of these vehicles.

The problem is further compounded by the lack of a place to dispose of these junk and abandoned vehicles because there are not enough sites on the island. An official from the Saipan Mayor’s Office, though, said the statement released earlier about the office’s inoperable boom truck was inaccurate. He said there is no basis for that statement.