TINIAN\u2014Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday he is pursuing Covenant Section 902 consultations with President Barack Obama for the return to the CNMI of 3-mile submerged lands surrounding five islands that are either part of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument or under lease to the U.S. Department of Defense.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers separately said yesterday they have the governor\u2019s back in initiating 902 talks with the White House so that resources would be \u201creturned to their rightful owners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other possible issues for 902 talks, however, are \u201cso fluid,\u201d including those involving U.S. military plans in the region, Inos said.<\/p>\n
Section 902 of the CNMI\u2019s Covenant with the United States allows for periodic consultations between the two governments \u201con all matters affecting the relationship between them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Either party can initiate the consultations. The representatives to these discussions are appointed directly by the CNMI governor and the U.S. president.<\/p>\n
Inos\u2019 plan is to initiate 902 talks on the return of the submerged 3-mile lands around Farallon de Pajaros (Uracas), Maug, Asuncion, Tinian, and Farallon de Medinilla.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything over 3 miles will require an act of Congress. That\u2019s something we may not be able to bring to the 902 table,\u201d Inos told Saipan Tribune at yesterday\u2019s groundbreaking for the West San Jose Village Homestead on Tinian.<\/p>\n
House vice speaker Frank Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan) said he supports the governor \u201c100 percent\u201d in pursuing 902 talks because \u201cafter all, this is what is spelled out in the Covenant\u2014all matters of concerns between the U.S. and the CNMI should be through 902 talks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) said the submerged lands belong to the people of the CNMI, \u201cwhether or not there are minerals or other resources yet to be discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way it was taken away was really not fair despite strong opposition by the people and the leaders. It was literally taken away without much negotiation. The monument needs to be returned to the rightful owners, the people of the Commonwealth. As for FDM and Tinian, we did enter into a lease agreement. The most we could do is renegotiate the terms for future usage,\u201d Camacho said.<\/p>\n
He said the CNMI needs to \u201ctake back 100 miles if possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can protect our own land and submerged lands as the people of the Commonwealth and for its best interest,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rep. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan) supports 902 talks on submerged lands, saying it is an \u201cimportant step to better our relationship and address issues and provisions in the Covenant that need to be clarified and resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will bring positive closure to these issues. Equally important is the need for continued dialogue,\u201d Maratita added.<\/p>\n
The last time the CNMI government initiated 902 talks with the U.S. was in 2007 during then governor Benigno R. Fitial\u2019s term. The topics included interpretation of Covenant provisions on immigration, minimum wage, and taxation.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 15 this year, Obama withheld return to the CNMI of five islands\u2019 submerged lands until management deals can be completed on them.<\/p>\n
But the presidential proclamation didn\u2019t include Inos\u2019 request for a 180-day period for a management agreement to be completed rather than an open-ended timeline that could mean the CNMI won\u2019t be able to control the remaining submerged lands for years to come.<\/p>\n
A law that Obama signed four months ago gave the CNMI control over submerged lands 3 miles around nine of its 14 islands, making it the last U.S. coastal state or territory to own its offshore lands.<\/p>\n
Senate floor leader Ray Yumul (Ind-Saipan), for his part, believes 902 talks is not the approach to tackling submerged lands but rather a sit-down with the U.S. Navy secretary and other federal agencies that the president noted in his presidential proclamation.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly we can try both avenues though,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
This year marks the 38th year since the establishment of the unique relationship between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States through the signing of the Covenant.<\/p>\n
From 3 miles to 12 miles<\/strong><\/p>\n The governor reiterated that proposed 902 talks on submerged lands would be confined to 3 miles because congressional action is needed on anything beyond 3 miles.<\/p>\n The CNMI previously requested control over 12-mile submerged lands but this was shot down.<\/p>\n \u201cSo since the other coastal states have 3 miles, they made it equitable, for us to get 3 miles also. But unlike other coastal states, there are certain exceptions to the transfer to us\u2014FDM, Tinian and the Marine Monument,\u201d Inos said.<\/p>\n The CNMI House of Representatives adopted Friday Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro\u2019s (R-Saipan) resolution urging Congress to recognize the Northern Marianas descents\u2019 control over its exclusive economic zone\u2014the submerged lands and water extending 200 miles around the islands.<\/p>\n Inos said the 200 miles will be hard to come by, or even 12 miles.<\/p>\n If it were up to him, he wants the CNMI to focus on the return of all the submerged 3-mile lands first \u201cand then see how things go, and then we will go in for an extended jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is, I don\u2019t know that we would be granted the 12 miles\u2026But again, we\u2019re unique. The CNMI was not acquired by anything other than through negotiations so we will invite the U.S. to come back to the negotiation table and deliberate through that process,\u201d he said, referring to 902 talks.<\/p>\n Gold, silver?<\/strong><\/p>\n Like House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), Inos would also like to hear from the federal government whether it has granted permits or licenses to international companies wanting to mine Marianas seafloor for reported multimillion worth of high-grade hydrothermal deposits.<\/p>\n Upon preliminary checking, the governor said there seems to be no permit issued to any seafloor mining companies.<\/p>\n The speaker said it would still be important for the CNMI to know \u201cwhat\u2019s out there.\u201d Considering that the CNMI controls most of its submerged 3-mile lands now, questions arise as to the CNMI\u2019s authority over ongoing or future seafloor mining activities.<\/p>\n Deleon Guerrero, on his way to Washington, D.C. later this month, will be meeting with U.S. Department of the Interior and Department of Defense officials on a host of issues including the reported minerals and military plans in the CNMI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TINIAN\u2014Gov. Eloy S. Inos said yesterday he is pursuing Covenant Section 902 consultations with President…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,665],"tags":[200,121,67],"class_list":["post-26917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-must-clicks","tag-military","tag-northern-mariana-islands","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26917\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}