US Military continues CNMI consultations over expansion

Transcript

The US military is two thirds of the way through the process of implementing plans to expand activity in the Northern Marianas.

The plans include the lease of Pagan Island for exercises including light bomb drops and live-fire training on Tinian.

The Speaker of the House has come out against the plans and the local mayor says the military is ignoring the concerns of the indigenous people who want to return to the currently uninhabited Pagan.

But the Executive Director of the Marine Corps Forces for the Pacific, Craig Whelden, told Koro Vaka'uta he has spoken to both high profile opponents and he is confident an agreed ground will be met.

CRAIG WHELDEN:  I've spoken to both of them.  I've spoken to many people in CNMI including the Governor on multiple occasions.  This is a three year journey.  We are not through with it yet and one of the things that we instituted when we started this was a series of engagement meetings which we call ad-hoc meetings with local officials at the CNMI level and at the mayoral level where we say tell us what your concerns and your issues are and let's see if we can bridge any gaps between what we're saying our training requirement might be and what your concerns might be.  How can we collaboratively work together?  Mayor Alden is a brand new mayor, he just got elected in November, took office in January.  I met with him the day after and I encouraged him to keep an open mind as I have done with others in CNMI about what the military may be able to offer to the northern island community in terms of partnering so they get some benefits from our limited use.  We're only talking about using training areas in Pagan 16 out of 52 weeks of the year.  Not full time.

KORO VAKA'UTA:  In terms of this impact report, obviously its encapsulating the environmental impact but I think one of the comments Mayor Alden talked about was indigenous and cultural considerations were being ignored.  From your perspective is that not the case?  How is it being treated?

CW:  No I don't think that's the case.  Again, he just recently got the copy of the draft environmental  study so I am not sure if he's been through it.  It's about a 1300 page document and we have looked at those kinds of issues so far and for those issues that have not been satisfactorily looked at we will continue to look at them.  Plus we have consultations with Historical Preservation Office ahead of us.  We have consultations with Fish and Wildlife Service ahead of us and we have the input of local people which we are soliciting during this comment period and particularly in our public hearing meetings.

KV:  Alden's fears I guess are that people wouldn't be able to go back to the island in the future even though it's uninhabited at the moment.

CW:  If my understanding is correct, when the volcanic activity began in the 80s it was pretty severe for the first 15 years or so.  It's still considered an active volcano that is dangerous and CNMI actually put it off limits to homesteading in the 80s.  There are groups that go up there that go up there occasionally and spend a few days or a week or so on the island in small groups.  I am talking numbers of 10 or less perhaps but clearly the CNMI northern islands community is interested in repopulating Pagan at some point in the future but it is right now considered too dangerous.  The US Geological Service was monitoring the island throughout 2013, they're not monitoring it right now, clearly if the US military leased Pagan for its limited use we would probably engage the USGS to reinstall and monitor volcanic activity which wouldn't just benefit us but it would benefit the CNMI and the northern islands to let them know how safe or how dangerous that volcanic activity might be.

KV:  You mentioned it was a three year process, we're kind of two-thirds of the way through it?

CW:  About that.  A little bit more than that.  I think the schedule right now is planning for a final environmental study report in early summer of 2016 and typically a record of decision which is kind of a last step we go through about 30-45 days later so summer of 2016 is about as specific as I can get.

KV:  So you are happy with how the journey has progressed and is at at the moment?

CW:  The process is pretty much defined for us.  We have gone above and beyond what the law requires in terms of engagement through these ad-hoc meetings. We said early on, tell us what your concerns and issues are.  For example, the landfill at Tinian and solving what is currently a dump of trash that doesn't comply with EPA rules.  There are about 2000 head of cattle on Tinian and cattlemen who currently use that leased area that we have.  Once we start the live-fire training that obviously might be closed down so for the past year we have been working with the Cattlemen Association to try to find at least a one for one substitute for land.  Access to the northern part of two-thirds of the island, special use airspace to make sure we minimise any impact on air traffic from Saipan to Tinian.  Those are all issues that they raised a year ago which we have been meeting regularly on to close any gaps that we may have between us and we will continue to do that over the next year.

KV:  At this point is it safe to say or assume that the plans that are out there will go ahead it's just a case of the degree with which they will go ahead?

CW:  Not necessarily because this is a preferred alternative and its purpose is to solicit input mad feedback from that preferred alternative.  We also had new elections in CNMI in November.  New mayors took office, the governor was elected, there's a new lieutenant governor, there's a new mayor of the northern islands so we are starting new relationships with some of these folks that we previously have not engaged with.  I'm not saying we are taking a step backward but we are kind of recocking our efforts in making sure that we bring everybody up to the same level that we were with the previous administration as we move forward but there could be modifications to our preferred alternative over the course of the next year.