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DOI’s Domenech, Pula check out Pagan
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Posted on Jun 09 2008
U.S. Department of the Interior officials are on island to meet with the local government on energy, security, and health issues.
The group, led by Doug Domenech, the acting deputy assistant secretary for insular affairs, will follow a full schedule until they head back to Guam this afternoon.
Domenech, who also serves as deputy chief of staff for Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, is traveling with Nikolao Pula, director of the Office of Insular Affairs, Tim Petty, DOI deputy assistant secretary for water and science, Tom Murray, senior research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and Larry Broun, emergency coordinator at DOI.
Jeff Schorr, OIA’s field representative on Saipan, said the group flew to Pagan yesterday. One of the islands north of Saipan, Pagan is the proposed site for a geothermal power plant. OIA recently approved a $220,000 grant for the project.
Today, the team will meet with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to discuss federal funding and various other issues, which may include the U.S. government’s imminent takeover of local immigration control.
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will brief the federal officials on the power crisis.
Broun will meet with the CNMI Office of Homeland Security and Commonwealth Ports Authority. Petty has a meeting with the Water Task Force. Murray will meet with the Emergency Management Office on the proposed volcano monitoring system for the Northern Islands.
Healthcare issues will be on the agenda when Pula meets with Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez.
The team last week accompanied Janet W. Creighton, the recently appointed deputy assistant to President Bush and director of intergovernmental affairs, on her first visit to Guam. Creighton and the Interior Department officials met with Gov. Felix Camacho and other Guam officials to discuss the planned military in the territory and the rest of the region.
The multipurpose trip “demonstrates Interior Secretary Kempthorne’s continued support and focus on a variety of island issues,” Pula had said.
