KEY POINTS
- Liberia’s EPA shut a hazardous Buchanan dumpsite located directly opposite the Government Eye Center Hospital.
- EPA Executive Director Emmanuel Yarkpawolo warned that violations of the closure order will attract penalties.
- The closure is part of a nationwide compliance exercise currently running across all 15 Liberian counties.
Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency has shut down a hazardous waste dumpsite in Buchanan City that sits directly across the road from a government hospital, calling the situation unacceptable and a serious risk to patients, healthcare workers and nearby residents.
The closure order came during the EPA’s ongoing Nationwide Environmental Compliance Monitoring Exercise, which is currently running across all 15 counties in the country. EPA Executive Director Emmanuel Urey Yarkpawolo personally led the enforcement action at the site along On Your Own Community Road in Lower Harlandsville Township, Grand Bassa County.
The dumpsite belongs to the Buchanan City Corporation. It sits directly opposite the Government Eye Center Hospital. Yarkpawolo did not soften his assessment. “We can’t have this type of situation. Our country needs to be normal. This is not normal,” he said during the operation.
A hospital next to a dumpsite
The EPA said it had received multiple complaints from hospital authorities and medical staff before moving to close the site. Documented reports and messages from healthcare workers highlighted exposure to flies, odor and disease-carrying contaminants affecting patients and staff at the eye hospital.
EPA inspectors had previously documented the site and engaged relevant authorities before escalating to an enforcement closure. Yarkpawolo made clear that the agency’s authority extends to government institutions, not just private companies. “Even as we regulate companies, we are also regulating government and cities,” he said.
The Liberia National Police is supporting EPA enforcement teams on the ground to ensure the closure order holds. Any violation of the stop order, the EPA warned, will trigger stronger enforcement measures including financial penalties and possible legal action under Liberian environmental law.
What the nationwide exercise is targeting
The compliance monitoring exercise is the EPA’s most visible enforcement push in recent memory, reaching into all 15 counties with a mandate to identify and act on environmental violations wherever they exist. Buchanan is not the only target. The agency has signaled it will move against any site, public or private, that poses risks to public health or violates waste management standards.
The EPA reaffirmed its commitment to protecting public health and strengthening environmental governance, particularly in cases where improper waste disposal sits adjacent to essential community services.
