Local execs support volcano warning system

Local officials in the Northern Marianas and Guam have expressed support for a volcanic hazards assessment and the installation of an early warning system in the region.

Emergency Management Office director Rudolfo Pua said this yesterday after speaking before members of the Association of Mariana Islands’ Mayors, Vice Mayors and Elected Municipal Council Members Friday.

Pua said the association has come up with a resolution expressing its support for the plan, which the U.S. Geological Survey and the CNMI government jointly prepared. The association urged Interior Secretary Gale Norton to support the plan.

The association said that volcanic ash poses a serious threat to aviation safety, noting that volcanic ash had already resulted in flight cancellations in the CNMI and Guam. It also said that volcanic eruptions pose a threat to the environment and compliance with the Clean Air Act.

The Bush administration has increased its recommended funding for the USGS volcano hazards program to $21.7 million under the proposed fiscal year 2006 budget. The proposed funding surpasses previous funding levels of $18 million for the program.

Of the proposed budget, about $300,000 to $400,000 would be allotted for the CNMI, according to the program’s James Quick. The funding range, however, falls short of the funds needed to implement the project in the CNMI.

Quick said that monitoring the nine active volcanoes in the Northern Marianas and assessing their hazards would cost about $1.9 million per year for the first three years, $1.2 million in the fourth year, and approximately $500,000 per year eventually. An early warning system could help the CNMI government predict when volcanic eruptions may erupt months before they happen.

Majority of 13 Northern Marianas volcanoes have no real-time ground-based monitoring at all, despite the USGS’ assessment that at least four of them pose high threat to aviation and ground safety. The USGS has listed eight CNMI volcanoes as high priority targets for monitoring improvement. There are also about four submerged volcanoes in the region.

Among the four volcanoes that are considered high threat, the government only has ground-based monitoring capability on Anatahan. The three other high-threat volcanoes in Pagan, Alamagan and Agrigan have zero real-time, ground-based monitoring. Based on required monitoring level for high-threat volcanoes, about 12 to 20 stations should be installed within 20 kilometers of the volcano’s vent, among other sensors.

The USGS said Anatahan should be one of the federal government’s highest priority targets for monitoring improvement, besides four other erupting volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens in Washington. Other high priority targets include Pagan, Agrigan, Alamagan, Guguan, Farallon de Pajaros, and Asuncion. The USGS also considers Sarigan a high priority target.