Fitial, Tenorio spar over submerged lands

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Washington Rep. Pedro A. Tenorio are at odds over how to proceed with the CNMI’s claim to submerged lands ownership.

Tenorio reported to the Legislature on Friday that Fitial had recently asked New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici to withdraw from consideration the CNMI submerged land bill currently pending in the U.S. Senate.

Domenici is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Senate Bill 1831 would give the Commonwealth full control over three miles of submerged land seaward from its shores. Other U.S. states and territories, except Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico have the same arrangement with the federal government.

Tenorio supports passage of the bill, saying that it gives the Commonwealth parity. But Fitial wants to negotiate with the U.S. government for a larger grant.

“We all want a larger grant, and I wish that I can be more positive and confident that our wish could be accomplished. But we must be realistic, as I said earlier, neither the Bush administration nor the U.S. Congress is willing to give up control over a larger submerged land area than the other territories currently have,” Tenorio said in his speech before the Legislature Friday.

Addressing Fitial, he added: “Governor, I sincerely believe that your request for a grant greater than the three miles being provided under the Senate Bill 1831 will not be possible. Withdrawing the current bill in the Senate which will grant the CNMI the same rights as Guam and other territories will set the CNMI back from actually managing its own marine resources, maybe for years.”

Tenorio also proposed that the CNMI agree to a three-mile jurisdictional boundary for now and then lobby collectively with other territories and coastal states for a greater area of control.

In an interview, Fitial stood firm behind his position. “We have our position. We’re not asking for the whole nine yards.

We’re only asking for the same control that Puerto Rico has. We have more ocean than Puerto Rico,” he said.

Puerto Rico, which enjoys the same political status as the Northern Marianas, has jurisdiction over submerged lands extending nine nautical miles offshore.

The CNMI originally wanted control over submerged lands extending 200 miles seaward from the coastline.

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld earlier rulings by the U.S. District Court on Saipan and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the CNMI currently had no rights to the submerged lands surrounding the islands.