JG Sablan sues over termination of permit to mine pozzolan

JG Sablan Rock Quarry Inc. has sued Department of Public Lands Secretary John Del Rosario and 10 other unnamed co-defendants over the alleged unlawful termination of the company’s 1995 permit to mine pozzolan on Pagan.

JG Sablan, through counsel Vincent DLG. Torres, asked the Superior Court to order the defendants to pay damages, attorney’s fees, and court costs for alleged violation of the company’s constitutional rights.

Torres stated in the complaint that in 1992, the Marianas Public Land Authority, the predecessor to DPL, awarded JG Sablan a one-year mining permit to mine the pozzolan on Pagan.

In 1993, the mining permit was renewed and extended for five years.

Torres said that in September 1995, the government entered into a new mining permit with JG Sablan, granting the company exclusive rights on Pagan for 20 years.

The lawyer said that, in April 2006, nine years before the 1995 permit was set to expire, Del Rosario questioned the scope of the 1995 permit.

Torres said the mining rights covered by the 1995 permit extend to the entire island of Pagan, but Del Rosario in April 2006 insisted that the island had been split into three sections and that plaintiff had rights to only one section (A).

JG Sablan met with the defendant on April 26, 2006, to discuss the plaintiff’s waiver to sections B and C of the island.

Torres said the defendant expressed his intent to terminate the plaintiff’s 1995 permit.

He said the meeting adjourned without any resolution regarding the plaintiff’s willingness to waive mining rights to sections B and C.

On May 3, 2006, Torres said, the governor formed a task force with the stated purpose of finding a company to mine pozzolan on Pagan.

On May 3, 2006, the defendant issued an order that gave notice that the 1995 permit had been terminated and was void.

Torres said the order did not give notice of a hearing.

“Neither the defendant nor DPL held a hearing before terminating the 1995 permit,” the lawyer asserted.

In response to the order, JG Sablan requested an agency hearing pursuant to the Commonwealth’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

At the appeal hearing on July 14, 2006, Torres said, JG Sablan made a motion to recuse the defendant as the hearing officer in accordance with the requirements of APA of an impartial hearing officer.

Torres said Del Rosario denied the motion and proceeded to hear the appeal so that he could perpetrate his scheme to deny a property right to the plaintiff.

On Aug. 1, 2006, defendant issued a decision affirming his May 3, 2006 order which terminated and voided plaintiff’s 1995 permit.

“The termination of plaintiff’s 1995 permit was perpetrated by the defendant for his own personal gain,” Torres alleged.