ON SUBMERGED LANDS ISSUE

The Bush administration will only support CNMI claim over submerged lands extending no more than three miles offshore, according to a visiting federal official.

Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary David Cohen, who visited Saipan yesterday, met with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Attorney General Matthew Gregory to discuss the submerged lands issue.

In an interview before the meeting, Cohen said the Commonwealth had the federal government’s support in its efforts to gain control over the CNMI’s submerged lands. However, this backing applies only to granting the CNMI the same control that all other territories, except Puerto Rico, have over their submerged lands.

Fitial wants the same status as Puerto Rico, which has jurisdiction over nine miles of submerged lands.

“I’m happy to discuss this with the governor. But the [Bush] administration has spoken,” said Cohen.

“Perhaps, if we can get the CNMI what all the other territories have, we can come back together and explore the possibility of getting nine miles for everyone. I don’t know if that is realistic or not, but the legislation [pending in the U.S. Congress] is just for three miles and it provides an opportunity for the CNMI to get that,” he added.

He also said that the submerged lands bill was intended to address the existing gap where nobody has proper enforcement authority over CNMI submerged lands from zero to three miles offshore.

“We would just like to make sure that such a gap does not cause problems,” Cohen said.

Authored by New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, 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.

Fitial recently asked Domenici to withdraw the bill from consideration.

“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,” Fitial has said.

Washington Rep. Pedro A. Tenorio disagrees with the governor’s position. “I sincerely believe that [Fitial’s] 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.”

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.