Admin leaning toward seeking DOI, Congress help on submerged lands

The Babauta administration is more inclined these days to bring up the issue of submerged lands with the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Congress, rather than appealing it before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The governor is leaning toward not appealing [the case in court] as long as there is enough time to negotiate with DOI and make it a 902 issue, as opposed to a court issue,” said governor press secretary Peter A. Callaghan yesterday.

Further, he said OIA deputy assistant secretary David Cohen has promised to help in bringing the issue before Congress.

“The ultimate goal is to have economic control of our submerged lands. We think we can get that through DOI and Congress better than through the court,” said Callaghan.

He said Gov. Juan N. Babauta met yesterday with Rota Mayor Benjamin Manglona on Capitol Hill to discuss the matter.

“Mayor Manglona has been involved with issues of this nature since the formation of the Commonwealth,” he said, noting that Manglona was part of the committee that negotiated for the 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

This developed after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently junked the request of the CNMI government for a full-panel rehearing on its dispute with the federal government over 264,000-square miles of submerged lands in the Northern Marianas.

Earlier, Assistant Attorney General Jay Livingstone had said that, while an appeal with the Supreme Court is an option, the fact is that it hears only a very small percentage of all the cases that are elevated to it.

The CNMI has 90 days within which to appeal the case before the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals ruling was dated July 8.

A task force composed of federal and CNMI government officials earlier suggested the Covenant 902 negotiations as the proper forum to address the submerged land issue.

Section 902 of the Covenant provides that the CNMI Governor or the U.S. President may initiate negotiations on issues affecting the relationship between the Commonwealth and the United States.

In an interview a couple of years ago, Cohen had said that his office is pursuing parallel talks with federal agencies on possible alternatives to resolve the issue.

“The Justice Department, of course, will be taking the lead on what we do in the litigation. But we have lines of communication open to determine if there are any agreements that we can come to that will serve the interests of all parties,” Cohen had said without elaborating.