Ordot Dump

Ordot Dump
Superfund site
Ordot Dump in 2016, looking northeast with the Lonfit River to the right
Geography
CDPOrdot
Census areaChalan Pago-Ordot
TerritoryGuam
Coordinates13°26′20″N 144°45′01″E / 13.4389°N 144.7504°E / 13.4389; 144.7504
Ordot Dump is located in Guam
Ordot Dump
Ordot Dump
Ordot Landfill in central Guam
Information
CERCLIS IDGUD980637649
ContaminantsHazardous waste landfill leachate
Progress
Proposed20 December 1982
Listed8 September 1983
Construction
completed
9 September 1992
List of Superfund sites

Ordot Dump, also known as Ordot Landfill, was a landfill on the western Pacific island of Guam that operated from the 1940s until 2011. Originally operated by the U.S. military, ownership was transferred to the Government of Guam in 1950, though it continued to receive all waste on the island, including from Naval Base Guam and Andersen Air Force Base, through the 1970s.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated Ordot Dump a Superfund site in 1983. In 2002, the U.S. government sued Guam under the Clean Water Act to force it to clean up Ordot Dump, resulting in Guam entering into a consent decree to close and cover the dump. After Guam failed to do so, the EPA put the landfill into receivership. The receiver closed Ordot Dump in 2011.

In 2017, Guam sued the U.S. government for part of the costs of cleaning up the dump, which were estimated to range as high as $160 million. The Federal government argued that the statute of limitations had already run out for Guam to file suit. The Supreme Court of the United States heard the case, Guam v. United States, and decided unanimously in May 2021 to allow Guam's case to continue.