SCC president backs submerged lands bill

Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Charles V. Cepeda has expressed support for passage of a pending bill at the U.S. Senate that aims to grant the CNMI control over three miles of submerged lands.

Cepeda said he would rather see some control over submerged lands than nothing at all.

“We tend to agree that something is better than nothing. I favor the approval of the Senate bill,” said Cepeda.

The measure, Senate Bill 1831, was introduced following the defeat of the CNMI in the U.S. Supreme Court over control of its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The CNMI government initially lost the case in the U.S. District Court on Saipan, then at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The CNMI then appealed the case before the High Court, which recently rendered a decision, upholding the previous rulings of the two courts.

The U.S. courts ruled that the federal government has the right over the submerged lands seaward from the shore of the islands.

S.B. 1831, meantime, proposes to give the Commonwealth “parity”, according to Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio, as it grants the CNMI the same entitlement—three miles of submerged lands—that is being extended to other U.S. states and territories, except Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

This bill, however, is being opposed by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.

Fitial recently asked New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici to withdraw from consideration the CNMI submerged land bill that was pushed by former Gov. Juan N. Babauta.

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

Fitial prefers to negotiate with the U.S. government for a bigger size of submerged lands, possibly nine miles, which has been granted Puerto Rico.

Other experts said, though, that the CNMI could not cite Puerto Rico as example because the latter had a different setup than the CNMI prior to its union with the United States.

Tenorio, meantime, has formally asked Fitial to withdraw his opposition during his report to the Legislature last week.

Tenorio’s position was supported by Tinian Mayor Jose San Nicolas, who said that he would write the governor to ask him to reconsider his stance on the matter.

The mayor said that further challenging the federal government over the control of submerged lands might prove futile.