Pete A. pursues money for NMI water plan

Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio appealed this week to ranking members of the U.S. Congress to seek their help in resolving the CNMI’s 50-year-old water woes.

Tenorio wrote to Rep. Don Young, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and John Duncan, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, to ask them for their oversight in developing a realistic funding plan and identification of resources to implement the plan developed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2003. That plan was developed in collaboration with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“One of the primary deterrents to building our economy and increasing the quality of our lives here in the CNMI is water. I am not speaking of the beautiful ocean waters surrounding our islands, but the water that seldom runs in our pipes and the water that is so grossly brackish that we cannot drink it,” explained Tenorio. “I do not see any way, considering the long list of needs facing our government, even with the assistance of the proposed bond bank, that we can afford to pay for all of the improvements needed in our water infrastructure that is taken for granted in other jurisdictions. We need direct federal assistance if we are ever going to see water we can drink flowing in our faucets.”

In the Fiscal Year 2005 Federal Omnibus Appropriations Bill, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies included language that recognized the enormity of the problems the CNMI faces in regard to water system improvements, noting “the magnitude of this need far exceeds” funds available to the Commonwealth.

The subcommittee required the Secretary of Interior, working with the Interagency Group on Insular Areas, to compile an update to the 2003 Army Corps report. The Secretary was also charged with developing a funding plan which fully utilized available federal funds from agencies such as the EPA, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Army Corps. The intent of this congressionally mandated report was to develop an implementation plan that was timely and cost-effective.

“I would hate to see this important report collect dust in an office somewhere,” said Tenorio.

He said that Deputy Assistant Secretary David Cohen and the IGIA did a “commendable job” on the report to the U.S. Congress but, “unfortunately there is simply not enough combined grant money from these federal agencies available to the CNMI to make all the needed improvements, additions and repairs outlined in the Army Corps report.”

“Even if all $11 million of Covenant 702 CIP funds were dedicated exclusively for water improvements, it will take more than 20 years to complete the needed improvements. Time is of the essence in improving our water systems, and the time is now. So instead of returning to the appropriations process for money in a band-aid approach, I am instead going to the authorizers, to approve an amount for the entire project. The project would then be phased in over a 10-year period,” he added.

The Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment under the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has jurisdiction over the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“By working with the authorizers, I hope to have key elements of our water system improvements included as an authorized project in legislation, as this will make the appropriations process easier and more automatic,” said Tenorio. (PR)