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Amendment to Marine Sovereignty Act nixed
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Posted on Aug 03 1999
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has disapproved a legislation seeking amendment to the Marine Sovereignty Act of 1980 to allow a federal court to rule on whether the Northern Marianas has rights on surrounding submerged lands and territorial waters.
Two lawsuits are pending with the U.S. district court dealing with the marine sovereignty and control over the 200-mile exclusive economic zone around the islands.
Tenorio believed the island government should wait for a court ruling first before amending existing laws to set the borders of the Commonwealth.
“Under these circumstances, I believe it is best to have the Court hear and decide these issues based on the Covenant and the Law as it exists at this time,” he said in his veto message to the Legislature.
Two amendments to the 1980 law were proposed by the Legislature in the measure offered by House Natural Resources Committee chair Rep. Manuel A. Tenorio, including provisions affirming significance of the marine resources to the people of the Commonwealth.
In addition, it had set the territorial sea of the CNMI at a breadth of 12 nautical miles, while the inner limit would be the archipelagic baselines of this chain of islands.
The suits against the U.S. government filed by the CNMI in July 1998 will decide which government will control the submerged lands and waters within the 200 mile radius of the Commonwealth.
