People must pressure gov’t. to solve garbage problem

With proper planning and strong political will, the Northern Marianas will be able to solve its solid waste problem that is threatening to destroy its pristine environment and the island’s tourism economy.

According to Norman Lovelace, manager for Pacific Insular Area Program of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the local people must pressure political leaders to force them to take concrete steps in saving the environment.

“There has to be a plan but there must also be political action to implement it. You may have the best ideas in the world but if it is just on paper, it would not do anybody any good,” said Lovelace.

The EPA regional head expressed confidence that the CNMI would be able to close the Puerto Rico Dump with the awarding of a new contract to a private firm to design and build a new landfill in Marpi.

While solid waste management is a concern among Pacific island governments, the extent of the problem varies depending on the growth of population and rate of economic development.

Aside from constructing a sanitary landfill, the Solid Waste Management Task Force in the Northern Marianas would also set up transfer stations, collection centers for recycle materials and carry out educational campaign.

Saying he is satisfied with the CNMI’s progress in establishing a new landfill, Lovelace also commended the huge amount of work performed by the Division of Environmental Quality in protecting the island’s limited resources.

DEQ first informed EPA Region IX that a sanitary landfill would be constructed in February 1983 to close the Puerto Rico Dump. Sixteen years after, the people of the CNMI still take all of their garbage to Puerto Rico since the planned landfill at that time was never constructed.

Is EPA happy with the slow pace the CNMI is taking in solving the problem? Said Lovelace: We all wanted to close the dump yesterday. While it has really been slow in the past, the administration has shown progress in the last couple of years.

DEQ director Ignacio Cabrera said CNMI officials must ensure that efforts to close the dump are seen through. He added that Rota and Tinian must avoid some of the solid waste problems that Saipan has encountered.

“We need to make the environment a priority in our daily lives. We can’t afford to be bogged down by inter-agency bickering or political differences. We must make health of our people and the health of the environment a top priority,” said Cabrera.

The CNMI has shown its ability to take concrete measures in dealing with environmental problems when DEQ discovered 53 electrical capacitors in Tanapag village in 1988.

The capacitors contained large amounts of polychlorinated biphenyl’s or PCBs and were brought to the CNMI in the first half of the century. These were used by the US military, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Trust Territory Government of the Pacific Islands. Discarded capacitors leaked PCBs and contaminated much of the soil within the village.

Cabrera said the discovery of PCB contamination in Tanapag village led to a massive soil remediation project conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the CNMI lawmakers to put pressure on Washington to continue to study and clean up these areas.