Torres blasts marine monument proposal

In a heated letter to Commonwealth House lawmakers issued Wednesday, Rep. Stanley Torres (R-Saipan) blasted the Pew Charitable Trust over its bid to establish a national marine monument in the Northern Islands.

Proponents of the monument plan say it will preserve a sensitive ecosystem for the future, yet critics, including Gov. Benigno Fitial, say the plan will strip fishing rights and other powers away from the Commonwealth’s inhabitants.

President Bush is expected to release a decision on whether to take up the Pew plan with a preliminary assessment soon, observers say, possibly during World Ocean Day, which is June 8. Yet Torres argues that any move to create the monument amounts to “oppression of the vilest sort” and appealed to the president to forgo the plan entirely.

“Pew is nothing if not slick,” Torres writes in the June 4 letter to House Speaker Arnold Palacios, accusing the organization using “rigged” polling data to create the appearance of support for the monument. Torres writes that many local citizens want to hear alternative proposals before considering whether the monument plans should move forward.

Moreover, Torres argues the Pew plan would violate the Covenant that established the Commonwealth because “land taking is being attempted as a unilateral proclamation instead of being approved by the Commonwealth and the U.S. bilaterally…”

Also fighting the Pew plan is CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife director Sylvan Igisomar. In an interview Friday, Igisomar said that contrary to suggestions from Pew, the local government will have little if any power to negotiate the restrictions that the monument plan will impose on local people because the statute being cited to establish the preserve, The American Antiquities Act of 1906, would bar a host of extractive activities such as fishing or mining within the monument area.

“This is not a good idea for us,” he said. “Right now, we have all of the authority. Pew wants to talk about co-management” of the trench “but right now, we have all the management.”

Despite the opposition to the monument plan, local environmentalists strongly defend the idea, saying it enjoys a significant level of support and will ultimately benefit the Commonwealth. Angelo Villagomez, a volunteer with Beautify CNMI and local coordinator for Pew, says the group’s recently circulated petition backing the plan has gained roughly 1,000 signatures. Villagomez took issue with the suggestion that the Pew plan is being forced on local residents.

“From day one Pew has presented this as an opportunity for the CNMI,” he said, “This has never been something that was going to happen without the permission of the people of the CNMI.”

Furthermore, he said, much of the opposition is simply “rhetoric to scare people,” noting the plan is still in its early stages.

Environmentalists will be releasing an economic study on the Pew plan next week and a scientific paper is also being developed, he added.