The American Samoa watchdog group Common Cause is supporting the legislature's decision not to back a bill which would allow the Government to buy the assets of the Samoa Packing cannery.
The cannery was shut down last month and the House Budget Committee has failed to support the bill.
The Vice President of Common Cause Ben Te'o says the group has been calling on the government to look at an effective emergency alarm system in the event of a disaster, saying it is more worthwhile than buying the tuna canning plant.
"The tsunami and everything else going on right now, we were hoping that with a special session that the Governor would at least hold back in the move to buy COS with that five million and concentrate on what's going on right now with the tsunami disaster here in American Samoa."
Ben Te'o says so far there's been no indication of what will happen next but he says the alert system is relatively inexpensive and should not cost the government any more than 10,000 US dollars.
