![\"Rear](\"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/military-1.jpg\")
<\/a>At the same time, Payne told the Saipan Chamber of Commerce that he sees a \u201ctremendous nexus\u201d between the business community and the military, both of which will benefit from a stable and peaceful region for economic and military purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economic factors that contribute to increased tourism all become obsolete or irrelevant if there\u2019s instability, political, or other conflict that permeates the area. Tourist [numbers] go down, dollars go down, if people are arguing and fighting. That\u2019s bad for business,\u201d Payne said, speaking before businesses right after Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan shared his views about a positive CNMI economic future.<\/p>\n
Payne proceeded to talk about four major ongoing U.S. Department of Defense initiatives that impact the CNMI and are going through the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, process. <\/p>\n
These include the 1) relocation of some 4,700 U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Japan, to the region, 2) the expansion of the Mariana Islands Training and Testing, 3) the CNMI Joint Military Training that includes the proposed expanded use of Tinian and the use of Pagan, and 4) the Pacific Air Forces divert airfield that could be on Saipan or Tinian.<\/p>\n
The multi-year NEPA process, which could be four to five years, costs an average of $3 million.<\/p>\n
Payne said throughout the NEPA process, there are a lot of opportunities for consultations between the military and the members of the CNMI community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see public scoping meetings or other things in the newspaper about a chance to engage or put in your opinion, please take advantage of that. \u2026We can make this a win-win solution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On the relocation of Marines from Okinawa to Guam and other areas such as Hawaii and Australia, Payne said there is not much impact on the CNMI except for adding confusion to the other things going on in the region.<\/p>\n
The MITT initiative, meanwhile, covers the proposed expansion of training areas, mostly on vast open waters within the Marianas. Payne said the military is getting closer to publishing the final environmental impact statement in late 2014. A record of decision is set for 2015.<\/p>\n
The CJMTS, meanwhile, covers the proposed expanded use of Tinian and the use of Pagan for the first time for military live-fire training and other activities, which has drawn strong reactions from residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people think that\u2019s just going to be the troops that\u2019s coming in from Okinawa and live in Guam\u2026that\u2019s not the case. The CJMTS is a much bigger range; it would improve training and readiness of all our forces in the Pacific so there would be submarines, airplanes, ships, ground forces,\u201d he told Chamber members and guests.<\/p>\n
Payne encouraged community members to tell the military their concerns, \u201chelp us understand where we can find some mutual ground to benefit the community of the CNMI and enable the military to reach the objective we need, to be trained\u2026so we can maintain peace and stability in the area, the economic environment you all need to grow your business, stability for tourists to keep coming\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed \u201ctransparency, openness, collaboration, and communication\u201d throughout the process.<\/p>\n
Surveys and studies are still being conducted on this initiative covering Tinian and Pagan. Consultations are ongoing. A draft EIS will be published in 2015, while a final EIS and record of decision is set for 2016.<\/p>\n
For the divert airfield initiative, Payne said the U.S. Air Force is getting ready to publish a final EIS, \u201cand it\u2019s going to say that Saipan is the preferred alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that the book is closed, that the discussions have ended. That\u2019s not a decision. That\u2019s the Air Force perspective so, again, as we work through the issues associated with this and you have suggestions and ideas, please let us know what they are so we can come up with a win-win situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gov. Eloy S. Inos and other CNMI leaders and citizens are united in their position to place the divert airfield on Tinian, which for over 30 years has yet to see a major U.S. military development to help its economy. Two-thirds of Tinian lands are under lease to the U.S. military.<\/p>\n
During question-and-answer, Payne said the military has changed many of its proposals regarding the divert airfield as it continues to listen to the CNMI. For example, he said, instead of fighter planes and \u201call kinds of real loud aircraft\u201d planned for use in the original proposal, the revised scope of work is now mostly the \u201cKC 135 tankers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Payne added that cost-wise and infrastructure-wise, Saipan remains more attractive for the Air Force versus Tinian. He said the Saipan investment would be some $29 million.<\/p>\n
The Chamber\u2019s Sablan, meanwhile, expressed the business group\u2019s support to the Chamber of Commerce and other issues that have affected the CNMI. Sablan said Payne\u2019s departure from the region \u201cwill be a true loss for military advocates in the region as Admiral Payne is one of the few region commanders that we have felt was truly interested in listening and finding solutions that all sides could embrace.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rear Adm. Tilghman Payne seeks the CNMI\u2019s continued engagement and input on four major ongoing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":40559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900,4],"tags":[418,56,26,200],"class_list":["post-40557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local-news","tag-air-force","tag-business-3","tag-cnmi","tag-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40557","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=40557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}