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Chamber asks gov’t to lower incineration fee • U.S. military vessels complain of high costs, says business group
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Posted on May 24 2000
Is the incineration fee being charged by the Commonwealth Ports Authority to the visiting U.S. Navy ships too high?
Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Lynn A. Knight raised this issue in a letter to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio as she expressed concern on the effect of high incineration fee imposed on visiting military ships, an issue brought up by U.S. Navy vessels in written evaluations.
This year alone, the U.S. Navy ships paid more than $57,000 to dispose of their garbage.
Compared to Guam, the cost of disposal of regulated waste there is approximately $0.75 per pound inclusive of costs for a 6 cu. ft. regulated dumpster and collection services.
CNMI requires all foreign vessels to incinerate their trash.
CPA is currently charging visiting U.S. military ships $0.78 per pound plus a manpower monitoring fee of $8.00 per hour and a 25 percent administration fee.
Again, CPA does not provide regulated containers and collection services, thus the need to have these contracted out which becomes an additional cost on top of CPA’s charges.
Ms. Knight noted that the military ships provide an economic boost to the islands at a time when the CNMI needs it most, thus, these vessels must continue to come to the Northern Marianas.
