24 Jan 2014

CNMI renews concerns about US military plans in the territory

4:51 pm on 24 January 2014

The Northern Marianas governor, Eloy Inos, is opposing the United States Department of Defense's plan to set up live-fire training ranges on Pagan and Tinian for safety reasons.

He is urging the U.S. military to stick to the original plan to use small arms for training on Tinian.

The governor says it was never envisioned that Tinian would host artillery training.

He says live-fire training ranges using small arms were initially planned on Tinian and that's something that's acceptable to the CNMI.

Mr Inos also says there are concerns that having military training on Tinian 300 days a year, 24/7, will have negative impacts.

But he says keeping the Department of Defense from setting up live-fire ranges for artillery on Pagan is an uphill battle.