Groups Intend to Sue Navy, Feds

Published by Saipantribune.com on Feb. 10, 2016

By Dennis B. Chan

Environmental groups from the Northern Marianas Islands and nation-wide intend to challenge the Department of Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over an alleged failure to comply with Endangered Species Act and for ongoing live-fire and sea training in the Marianas Islands range, according to a notice of intent to sue these agencies dated Feb. 5.

“The Navy and the Service have violated and remain in ongoing violation of the ESA,” said David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney, in the letter.

“If these violations of law are not cured within 60 days, [the groups] intend to file suit for declaratory and injunctive relief.”

Henkin’s letter appears to pin the grounds of a lawsuit on the Navy’s and Service’s alleged failure to reconsider the expansive military project in light of newly declared and threatened species in the Marianas.

The Navy fails “to insure that their military project will not likely jeopardize the continued existence of newly listed threatened or endangered species,” Henkin said.

The argument appears to center on the Navy’s continued and authorized training within the Marianas despite a lack of consultation with the wildlife service, after the Service’s declared 23 plant and animal species as endangered or threatened last October.

This consultation with the Service is required pursuant to the Endangered Species Act.

Henkin quotes the Service’s own words in their final rule on the matter: “The [Marianas Islands Training and Testing area] opens up every island within the Mariana Archipelago as a potential training site…which subsequently may result in negative impacts to any number of the 23 species addressed.”

The Service said the proposed actions include increasing in “training activities in Guam, Rota, Saipan, Tinian, Farallon de Medinilla (increase in bombing), and Pagan. Likely negative impacts include, but are not limited to, direct damage to individuals from live-fire training and ordnance, wildlife resulting from life-fire and ordnance, direct physical damage (e.g. trampling by humans, helicopter landing, etc.) to individuals, and spread of nonnative species.”

“Additionally, water purification training is proposed for all these islands, exept for Farallon de Medinilla, which may be particularly damaging to the Rota blue damselfly,” the Service said.

The Service’s final decision, Henkin said, “makes clear” that the Navy training may affect the newly listed species, “triggering the obligation to reinitiate consultation.”

“This notice letter was prepared in good faith, after reasonably diligent investigation,” Henkin said. “If you believe that any of the foregoing is factually inaccurate or erroneous, please notify us promptly.”

Comments from the Department of Navy were not available as of press time, but a Navy spokesperson said a statement would be forthcoming today.

Large picture frustrations

The potential lawsuit taps into larger frustrations over military projects—like firing ranges, a divert airfield, the proposed leasing of the entire island of Pagan, and the relocation of thousands of Marines to Guam from Japan—that military planners have issued and approved within the Marianas Islands range in recent years.

“Look at what is happening here,” Peter J. Perez, co-founder of the advocate group Pagan Watch, said yesterday. “A department of the federal government, not the leadership of the United States, not the President and the Congress, but a department, somehow has the right to unilaterally decide to turn a state’s territory into the world’s largest live-fire training range.”

“This is a severe encroachment on the territory of Guam and the CNMI,” Perez said. Pagan Watch is one of the handful groups attached to the notice to sue the Navy.

For the Marianas Islands Training and Testing area, or MITT, the Navy expanded a training area encompassing some 500,000 square nautical miles of ocean into an expansive 980,000-some square miles—an area that advocates have lamented is larger than the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico combined.

In 2013, the late CNMI governor Eloy Songao Inos called on the Navy to conduct better baseline studies, grant more marine protection areas, and asked that undersea training not be done around certain island seamounts believed to be plentiful with marine life.

But in their formal response to Inos last May, the Navy said they could not impose these “geographic limitations on training and testing activities,” calling it an “impractical burden” to implement and an “unacceptable impact to the effectiveness” of their training.

The Navy approved the undersea ordnance training—inclusive of a reported roughly 300-percent increase of ordnance bombing on Farallon De Medinilla—last August.

Perez said the voices of the CNMI governor, the Senate and the House of Representatives, the mayors, the municipal council, or in other words, the entire local state-level government are all being “ignored.”

“The American citizens who live here—who have said “NO” in a strong and clear voice—are also being disregarded.”

“In fact, the only obstacle to the Department of Defense’s intention to take and bomb our islands and waters is the requirement under federal law that they follow the EIS process that was designed to ensure compliance with federal laws for the protection of the environment and historic assets.”

“Pagan Watch and the other signatories to the letter are determined to not allow the DoD to ignore the EIS process as well. It is all that is standing between us and what the late governor Inos characterized as the “existential threat” of the DoD turning our lands and waters into a giant live-fire range with all the destruction, contamination, and restrictions on the people’s freedoms that come with it,” Perez told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

The February notice of intent to sue lists a total of eight groups from the CNMI, Guam, and Hawaii in the notice to sue.

The attached groups include the Alternative Zero Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, Fanacho Marianas, Guardians of Gani, Oceania Resistance, Pagan Watch, Tinian Premier Football Club, and Tinian Women’s Association.

The letter was sent to the Department of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, USFW Service Director Daniel M. Ashe, and Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewel.

‘Navy Interests Should Be Included in Future Leasing Discussions’

Published by Saipantribune.com on January 26, 2016

By Dennis B. Chan

A U.S. Department of the Navy spokesman re-echoed Friday their claim to military use rights at the Tinian port, but said they do need not see any current conflict between their these rights and leases granted by the Commonwealth Ports Authority to commercial development.

The Navy’s desire is that military interests are part of the future and existing planning for leases, according to Joint Region Marianas public affairs officer Tim Gorman in an email.

Gorman was responding to questions from Saipan Tribune on the extent of their rights at the Tinian port, after a letter from Department of the Navy lawyer John Aguon to CPA lawyer Robert Torres surfaced, in which the former notes the Navy’s concern that current and future development at the Tinian port—including Bridge Investment Group’s $120-million casino resort—“may compromise DoD’s various rights.”

Gorman said that while JRM has become aware that the CPA has recently leased certain real property at the Tinian port to a private enterprise, “JRM does not see any current conflict with any CPA lease.“

“JRM personnel communicate and work with their CNMI counterparts on a wide variety of issues on a regular basis,” Gorman said. “In this instance, as the United States has certain rights contained in long-standing agreements with CNMI, such as the 1983 lease (as amended), JRM merely communicated its desire to continue to collaboratively work with the appropriate CNMI offices to help ensure that applicable DoD interests are part of the planning process in existing and future leasing actions. JRM will continue to work with our CPA colleagues to have fruitful discussions, just as we have regular discussions with our CNMI counterparts on other topics,” added Gorman.

In his January letter to CPA, Aguon reminds of these “longstanding agreements between the CNMI and Defense” that “authorize and guarantee DoD various military uses at the Tinian port and airport.”

“We desire to ensure these DoD rights are protected,” Aguon said. His letter notes that that certain portions of the port are currently leased to Bridge Investment Group—an investor building a reported casino resort on the Tinian wharf—and that in the future, “other portions of the Tinian port may be physically or legally encumbered by either Bridge or other private entities.”

Life after the ROD

Friday, 24 September 2010 04:00 By Gerry R. Partido from MarianasVariety

You have to hand it to the military, they spun the release of the Record of Decision beautifully.

For weeks, anticipation had been building towards the release of the ROD with protests planned and statements set to be released about how the military wasn’t listening to the concerns of the community.

The fact that it is election season added to the fireworks, with every politician worth his salt bashing the military to score some political points.

Then, when the ROD was finally released, surprise! Action on two of the most contentious issues of the buildup, namely Pagat and the Apra coral reefs, were indefinitely postponed.

The military must have known that the ROD would withhold action on these two issues. After all, various federal and Navy officials had further studied the issues after the release of the final environmental impact statement.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Jackalyne Pfannenstiel even made a personal visit to the Pagat site when she visited the island last month.

But by keeping the decision to postpone action very close to their chests, the feds and the military had the element of surprise and effectively undercut whatever protests were planned after the release of the ROD.

To be sure, postponement of the action on Pagat and Apra Harbor does not mean that those who oppose the military’s original plans can breathe easier.

As our editorial earlier this week pointed out, the military can still proceed with its original plans, maybe after the election season, when passions would have cooled down a bit.

But just because the ROD has been released doesn’t mean that GovGuam and the rest of the community should stop airing their concerns about the military buildup that is now about to start in earnest.

There is life after the ROD and even Joint Guam Program Office executive director David Bice acknowledged that the FEIS did not address all of Guam’s concerns.

Bice also assured that there will be further discussions and collaborations between the military and the Guam community beyond the ROD.

In the meantime, a number of island leaders are continuing with a planned massive demonstration in Adelup on Oct. 1 to draw attention to their feelings about the ROD.

The organizers are saying this will be a non-partisan and multi-sectoral event, with even representatives from the national media invited.

Obviously, the aim is to approximate the massive demonstrations in Okinawa that had drawn worldwide attention to the plight of the native inhabitants there.

But again, being political season, it would be difficult to distinguish between what is true sentiment and what is just rhetoric.

US, Japan brace for joint exercise

US, Japan brace for joint exercise

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 00:18
Variety News Staff

(AAFB) -- -- Units from the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force are scheduled to conduct exercise Cope North 10-1 at Andersen AFB from Feb. 7 to 19.

Cope North 10-1 is the tenth USAF-JASDF field training exercise conducted at Andersen AFB, and is part of an on-going series of exercises designed to provide a venue for bilateral cooperation and to improve capabilities for the defense of Japan.

U.S. aircraft participating in the exercise include: the F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 18th Aggressor Squadron, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska; the B-52 Stratofortress from the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, currently deployed to Andersen AFB; and the U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler from VAQ-136 Carrier Air Wing Five, Atsugi, Japan. JASDF aircraft will include the F-2 support fighter aircraft from the 6th Squadron, Tsuiki Air Base, Japan, and the E-2C Hawkeye from the 601st Squadron, Misawa Air Base, Japan.

Cope North is one of the longest-running series of exercises in the Pacific theater. Since the first Cope North exercise in 1978, thousands of American and Japanese Airmen have honed skills that are vital to maintaining a high level of readiness.

New wharf project

New wharf project

Tuesday, 24 November 2009 02:48
by Jennifer Naylor Gesick and Jude Lizama |
Variety News Staff

Polaris Point identified as site for aircraft carriers

THE Navy has determined that Polaris Point is an ideal location for building a port capable of hosting visiting aircraft carriers. It is preferred over utilization of the former ship repair facility at Apra Harbor, according to the draft environmental impact statement.

Increased carrier operations in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans mean aircraft carriers could visit Guam 63 days a year. With carrier crew capacity of nearly 6,000 men and women, port of call visits pump millions of dollars into the local economy as crew members can spend upwards of $200 to $300 a day on rental cars, hotel rooms, at restaurants and local shops.

Kilo Wharf has been used in the past, but as the military realignment progresses, but visits by carriers longer than a week would disrupt existing munitions operations at that wharf necessitating a more suitable location for the nuclear-powered floating airfields which need almost 50 feet of depth to safely come into port.

Ship ahoy

Other requirements planners are looking out for include shoreside infrastructure improvements at a new wharf to include utilities such as power, wastewater management, and potable water supply to minimize and eliminate dependency on shipboard systems while in port.

The draft impact statement further detailed the potential need for such facilities as laundry, recreation, transportation support for shuttle services and food and beverage concessions.

Polaris Point is expected to see a considerable increase in daily activities when aircraft carriers are in port with people transiting the wharf area, more truck traffic from the Navy base and vendors servicing visiting ships.

Cargo movement, the Navy anticipates, will likely require mobile cranes and other materials-handling equipment such as forklifts.

This aspect has raised some eyebrows among local leaders with Sen. Ben Pangelinan already having questioned the implications of the Navy diverting cargo to their facilities and avoiding the Port of Guam.

Digging in

About 1.1 million cubic yards of dredged material will be excavated from the Inner and Outer Apra Harbor for the proposed Navy and Marine Corps actions.

To reach the depth requirement dredging of the area will have to be done, and there are two methods, mechanical and hydraulic. The impact statement details mechanical dredging, which has historically been used in Apra Harbor, as the most likely way to prepare for a deeper water line at Polaris.

Mechanical dredging uses a bucket and hydraulic uses pipes and pumps to excavate the material. However, the methodology is controversial among some locals and with some environmentalist as well.

The draft study recognizes that mechanical dredging has the greater combined potential for environmental impacts, directly and indirectly, due to sediment redistribution which could destroy the areas valuable coral reefs.

The report additionally cited a need to develop temporary solid and hazardous waste storage areas at a proposed new wharf as well as a building to house on-site port operations for storage and other administrative purposes when a carrier is not in port.

Ecological crisis

Increased land needs are expected to have a critical impact on the environment as soil compaction and erosion, runoff, soil and subsurface contamination are cautioned against in the report. The U.S. government currently holds nearly one-third of all Guam lands under its aegis.

Buildup activities could further contribute to an ecological crisis on Guam if proper planning does not account for cut-and-fill activities, removal of vegetation and landscaping and the proper use of heavy equipment on projects, according to the study.

The long-term implications of what has been described as the largest military realignment in U.S. history is based upon information included in the report which purportedly studied environmental consequences of ground combat training, air combat and logistics combat training and support as well as the affect of encampment areas, training airfield and waterfront functions.

Vehicle and troop movements, munitions impacts, and explosive detonations were also considered in the report.

While there are proposed alternatives for the main encampment areas, training-firing range, training-ammunition storage, and training-Naval Munitions Site access road initiatives, there are no airfield or waterfront initiative alternatives.

Hazardous waste

Geological and soils impacts were conducted, in part, by reviewing documentation like previously published National Environmental Policy Act documents for actions in the Mariana Islands Range Complex and surrounding areas.

It is estimated that the proposed transfer of Marines to the island will result in an annual hazardous materials disposal volume of approximately 16,000 lbs.

The projected increase in hazardous waste may create adverse impacts to the environment and human health; however, the study states that best management practices and standard operating procedures will be utilized to ensure that no significant impacts occur.

The study also cited that such increases in the use and transfer of hazardous materials may require local Defense Reuse and Marketing Offices to expand “hazardous materials handling, storage, and disposal capacity.”

Projects cited as having potential impacts on local soil and geology resources include the construction and operation activities at the Andersen Air Force Base , main cantonment construction and operation activities, waterfront and Naval Base improvements at Apra Harbor, range operations at Navy Barrigada and NMS, and training activities at Andersen South and Route 15 Parcel.

Key marine force to leave Okinawa Prefecture

Key marine force to leave Okinawa Prefecture

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Satoshi Ogawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

WASHINGTON--About 1,100 marines from a division specializing in amphibious and ground combat missions are among the troops to be relocated from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam as part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, it has been learned.

The transfer of 1,100 marines of the U.S. Navy 3rd Marine Division will increase the number of marines to be moved to Guam to 8,552 from an originally planned 8,000.

The relocation of the 1,100 marines was referred to in an environmental impact assessment report the U.S. Navy released Friday in connection with its planned construction of a naval base on Guam for the relocation.

The 3rd Marine Division was widely known for its role in fierce fighting on Iwo Jima island in the closing days of the Pacific War and saw heavy combat in the Vietnam War.

The "road map" for realigning U.S. forces in Japan that Tokyo and Washington agreed on in 2006 said the division's command would be shifted from Okinawa Prefecture to Guam, but made no mention of relocating the marines themselves.

The navy's environmental assessment report, however, noted ground combat troops need to be located "close to a firing range and training exercise area."

Given that a new firing range of the 3rd Marine Division will be built on the islands north of Guam in the Marianas, some of the division's troops likely will be moved to the planned Guam base, according to navy sources.

Moving the 3rd Division troops to Guam in addition to other marines currently stationed in Okinawa Prefecture would mean most of the U.S. Marine Corps' ground combat training exercises will be shifted to Guam, a development that will alleviate the prefecture's burden as a host of U.S. bases.

The navy report also disclosed for the first time a breakdown of marines covered by the relocation plan. Almost 3,050 will be marines under the command of the 3rd Maritime Expeditionary Force and related troops, 1,856 will be mainly from the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and 2,550 will be from the 3rd Marine Logistics Group.

The bulk of the division's personnel has been stationed at Camp Schwab in Nago. The functions of the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan in the southern part of the prefecture are planned to be relocated to Camp Schwab, although this plan has been hanging by a thread due to political shuffling over the issue.

The navy's environmental assessment report describes the major missions of the 3rd Division as "destroying enemy troops by means of artillery fire, mobile combat operations and close-range fighting."

Guam Delegate Introduces Self-Determination Bill

Guam Delegate Introduces Self-Determination Bill

OPENING STATEMENT
HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INSULAR AFFAIRS, OCEANS AND WILDLIFE LEGISLATIVE HEARING
ON H.R. 3940

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Today, we convene to discuss an issue of great importance to the people of Guam and to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Natural Resources: that of appropriately enabling the Executive Branch to help resolve the question of Guam’s political status in a manner that would be consistent with the aspirations of the people of Guam.

The “territorial clause” in Article Four of the United States Constitution vests with the Congress the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territories of the United States. Recommendations as to the exercise of such plenary authority by the Congress rest with this Committee.

As a member of the United Nations, the United States also assumes by virtue of Article 73 of the United Nations Charter the international obligation to develop self-government and to take due account of the political aspirations of the people of her territories.

Mindful of these responsibilities we resume today a discussion that involves the political history and future of Guam.

The people of Guam call home an island that now has been under the United States Flag as an unincorporated territory for over 111 years. Guam, like her sister territory Puerto Rico, was ceded to the United States from Spain upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris settling the Spanish-American War in 1898.

For the first 45 years of United States rule, the Department of the Navy administered Guam. Shortly after United States Armed Forces returned to regain control of Guam ending a 32-month occupation by Imperial Japan during the Second World War, administrative authority for the territory was transferred to the Department of the Interior where it remains today.

In 1950, Congress also passed the Organic Act of Guam conferring United States citizenship on the people of Guam and providing the territory with a limited form of self-government. It is under the Organic Act that the Secretary of the Interior exercises his administrative authority for Guam.

Today, Guam, like American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands, is listed by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory, and its political status remains a matter for Congress to address.

After over a decade of earnest and diligent effort toward defining a new political relationship between Guam and the United States that gained the attention of the Executive Branch and that took the form of legislation introduced in the 100th through the 105th Congresses, the political aspirations of the people of Guam for such status were never realized. As a result, a plebiscite affording the people of Guam an opportunity to express their views on status was authorized by local law but remains unscheduled.

I introduced H.R. 3940 for the purposes of best positioning the Department of the Interior to help the Government of Guam in its process of preparing for such a plebiscite. H.R. 3940 would authorize the extension of grants and other forms of assistance by the Department of the Interior to the Government of Guam for the express purpose of facilitating a public education program regarding various political status options.

The education of the public as to viable status options is essential to the exercise of self-determination and to the expression of a people’s political aspirations. My bill is not meant to steer the course in one direction over another with regard to any particular status option nor is it meant to assert direct Congressional involvement in this process. Ultimately, Congress should remain ready and obligated to respond to the desires of the people of Guam on the question of status.

I remain committed to and ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the efforts of the Governor of Guam and the Guam Legislature in providing for an opportunity for the people of Guam to express their desired political status. Through the testimony and discussion today we can gauge where the Government of Guam is in this process and assess the views of the Administration as to the role it believes is appropriate for it to assume in this process and for which it may be capable of fulfilling.

Lastly, I thank my colleagues representing each of the other territories for cosponsoring H.R. 3940. Mrs. Christensen of the Virgin Islands has already requested my support for amending this bill, should it move forward in the legislative process, to also authorize such assistance for the Government of the Virgin Islands.

Following this hearing, we shall continue our efforts with respect to this subject area and evaluate amending H.R. 3940 to encompass the other non-self-governing territories based on our discussion today. With that, we look forward to hearing and reviewing the testimony that will be formally submitted today.

Bordallo, Navy to discuss EIS extension

Bordallo, Navy to discuss EIS extension

by Heather Hauswirth

Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo will meet with U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday (Guam time) to discuss an extension request for the comment period on the Comprehensive Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the military buildup. Bordallo is hoping to convince the Navy to reevaluate its decision to only allow 45 days for public review and comment of the DEIS.

Bordallo noted that less comprehensive studies like the Mariana Islands Range Complex were allowed longer comment periods.

Navy eyes sonar operations in Marianas

Navy eyes sonar operations in Marianas

Thursday, October 22, 2009

NOAA's Fisheries Service is seeking comments now through Nov. 19 on its proposed rule to authorize impacts to marine mammals during Navy training exercises around the Mariana Islands. The NOAA proposal includes protective measures designed to minimize effects on marine mammals.

The Navy has requested an authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, because the mid-frequency sound generated by tactical sonar, and the sound and pressure generated by detonating explosives, may affect the behavior of some marine mammals, or cause a temporary loss of their hearing sensitivity.

NOAA's Fisheries Service does not expect the exercises to result in serious injury or death to marine mammals, and is proposing the Navy use mitigation measures to avoid injury or death. However, exposure to sonar in certain circumstances has been associated with the stranding of some marine mammals, and some injury or death may still occur. Therefore, the proposed authorization allows for a small number of incidental injuries to marine mammals.

NOAA's Fisheries Service said it has made a preliminary determination that these effects “would have a negligible effect” on the species or stocks involved.

Under the authorization, the Navy would have to follow mitigation measures to minimize effects on marine mammals, including:

-establishing marine mammal safety zones around each vessel using sonar;

-using Navy observers to shut down sonar operations if marine mammals are seen within designated safety zones;

-using exclusion zones to ensure that explosives are not detonated when animals are detected within a certain distance;

-implementing a stranding response plan that includes a training shutdown provision in certain circumstances, and allows for the Navy to contribute in-kind services to NOAA's Fisheries Service if the agency has to conduct a stranding response and investigation.

“These measures should minimize the potential for injury or death, and significantly reduce the number of marine mammals exposed to levels of sound likely to cause temporary loss of hearing,” NOAA said in a statement.

Additionally, the proposed rule would require the Navy and NOAA's Fisheries Service to meet yearly to discuss new science, Navy research and development, and Navy monitoring results to see if changes to mitigation or monitoring measures are needed.

NOAA's Fisheries Service and the Navy use independent, experienced vessel-based marine mammal observers (as well as Navy watchstanders), and passive acoustic monitoring to help better understand how marine mammals respond to various levels of sound and to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures.

The Navy has been conducting training exercises, including the use of mid-frequency sonar, in the Mariana Islands for more than 60 years. Exercises range from large, 10-day long joint multi-strike group exercises using multiple surface vessels, submarines and aircraft, to multi-hour exercises designed to target specific skills or weapons systems, such as missile tracking. Some exercises involve explosives.

NOAA's Fisheries Service will accept comments on the application and proposed authorization through November 19. Comments should be addressed to:

Michael Payne, Chief of the Permits, Conservation, and Education Division
Office of Protected Resources, NMFS
1315 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Electronic public comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov using the identifier 0648-AW91. (NOAA)

 From Guam, Joint Region Marianas Leads Energy Conservation Across The Pacific

From Guam, Joint Region Marianas Leads Energy Conservation Across The Pacific

On Island, This Month: NAVFAC Marianas Celebrates (1) Energy Security/Efficiency, (2) Environmental Stewardship & (3) Defensive Power

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - Guam's military buildup is off to a sustainable start. One week after U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a crowd gathered at the Naval Energy Forum in Virginia that the Navy and Marine Corps would lead the armed forces and the world in energy conservation, an official announcement from Joint Region Marianas indicates that the Navy's conservation efforts on Guam are leading the Pacific.

Read the Guam News Factor story, "Guam Military Buildup To Usher In Era Of Energy Efficiency", October 18, 2009.

Here is the news release from Joint Region Marianas:

Joint Region Marianas Steps Up Energy Conservation

By Oyaol Ngirairikl, Joint Region Edge Staff

10/21/2009 / SANTA RITA, Guam (NNS) -- U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Marianas will host events in October to educate and encourage the military community on Guam to reduce energy consumption.

The Department of the Navy's emerging energy strategy is centered on energy security, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship while remaining the pre-eminent maritime power. The Navy is the second largest fuel user in the Department of Defense, consuming about 100,000 barrels per day. Seventy-five percent of the Navy's energy consumption is tactical while 25 percent of consumption is ashore.

In 2008, the Navy on Guam reduced its energy consumption by 1.86 percent.

"That's a huge reduction when you take into account all the areas, from Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Guam in the north to Naval Base Guam in the south," said Kevin Evans, NAVFAC Marianas energy manager. "The goal being three percent, which is a very aggressive...I don't know of any region that has met that goal, in fact, we are one of the best in the Pacific."

The consumption decrease is especially notable because of the new facilities that are being built to accommodate the expected increase in forces on Guam in the next few years, Evans said.

"We've been doing some really great things, including the solar-powered lights at playgrounds and solar-powered water heaters at the bachelor quarters on Naval Base Guam," he said. "Coupled with recycling, the work we're doing with our base contractors, the wind study and other things we're doing we're definitely making a lot of headway to reducing our energy consumption and doing our part to maintain our environment and meeting the goals set by federal policies."

In the last few years, NAVFAC Marianas has adopted eco-conscious standards for new buildings and renovations of old buildings. NAVFAC Marianas mandates energy-efficient lighting fixtures and household appliances are used and that construction design and materials minimize impact to air and water environment.

Other measures are being taken to reduce energy consumption in Navy buildings. For example, LED bulbs that use about half of the wattage of traditional incandescent bulbs were installed at NAVFAC Marianas' offices. As well, NAVFAC Marianas has started a curb-side recycling program on Naval Base Guam to help base residents do their part to conserve the environment and minimize its carbon footprint on the island.

Navy Guam's conservation measures fit right into this year's Energy Awareness Month theme, "A Sustainable Energy Future; Putting All the Pieces Together," which encourages individuals throughout the nation to see how they fit into the big picture.

NAVFAC Marianas is working closely with the Navy's contractors to determine other conservation methods.

"I'm really excited about this because as energy partners we'll be able to do so much," he said. "Our contractors work on everything from our air conditioning systems to infrastructure. With them thinking in terms of energy efficiency, we'll be able to make leaps and bounds in energy savings."

Educating the community is another key element that NAVFAC Marianas has implemented. Educational outreach efforts include an energy awareness event at the Orote Point Lanes on Naval Base Guam as well as product displays at the Navy Exchange and Orote Commissary Oct. 26-30.

During the Naval Energy Forum held Oct. 14-15 in Virginia, Navy leaders discussed new energy use strategies. Among other things, these new policies requires the Navy to create a "Green Strike Group" composed of nuclear vessels and ships powered by biofuels and deploying that fleet by 2016, and producing at least half the shore-based energy requirements from renewable sources, such as solar, wind and ocean generated by the base.

"These new goals help us stay on top of efforts to reduce our reliance on foreign oils," Evans said. "The President also released new requirements and I believe there will be more to come as we move towards being a more fuel efficient Navy and nation. We'll see more solar and wind projects and other programs that promote the use of renewable resources."

On Oct. 2, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation naming October Energy Awareness Month, promoting the importance of a clean energy economy. Obama noted that while the federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the U.S., he also noted his administration's commitment to increasing energy efficiency.

"We face a turning point in our Nation's energy policy," the proclamation stated. "We can either remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy technology. We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc, or we can create jobs deploying low-carbon technologies to prevent its worst effects."

On Guam, NAVFAC Marianas recently completed a year-long wind study that measured wind-powered energy at three different sites.

"Two of the sites are ... really, really good wind resources and the third is not as good as the first two but it's still a good area," Evans said. "There's still a lot of work to be done, from environmental assessments to getting community input. The process of getting all these different studies done will take several years."

According to the study, wind farms at the three areas could produce four megawatts of power, potentially saving the Navy $7 million annually.

"Four megawatts doesn't sound like much, but it helps," Evans said. Currently, the Navy on Guam consumes up to 56 megawatts during peak hours.

"Between the solar panels, new greener construction requirements and the investments we're making in future resources like the wind projects, I think we're doing all the right things," he said. "We're definitely moving in the right direction towards becoming a more energy efficient community and nation."

For more news from U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas, visit www.navy.mil/local/guam/.

CNMI to 'support' Guam on military buildup

77-page draft document seeks public input
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

The CNMI plans to provide operational support and services to Guam instead of viewing the neighbor island as a “competition” to maximize benefits from the $15-billion, multi-year U.S. military buildup in Guam.

This highlights the 77-page draft document, “A Strategic Approach: Utilizing CNMI's Natural Resources to Provide Complimentary [sic] Support to DoD Guam.”

The publication of the document marks the first time that the CNMI government has come up with a written plan on how to benefit from the movement of some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, some 17,000 family members, and up to 20,000 federal construction workers to the island.

The public has until this Friday, Oct. 16, to comment on the draft document.

These operational and support services, which are detailed in the draft report, include the CNMI providing airport and seaport facilities for deployment, training and relocation; provide ground forces training areas; provide storage facilities; provide solid food like “meals ready to eat” for military personnel; catering services; and lastly, provide a rest and recreation destination for military personnel.

Project Management Operations LLC, a Colorado-based global provider of project management and information technology operation consulting services, prepared the draft document as consultants to the CNMI Department of Commerce and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's Strategic Economic Development Council (SEDC).

In recent months, top U.S. military officials, including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, visited Saipan as part of a familiarization tour in the Pacific region.

So far, however, the U.S. military has not announced concrete plans for the CNMI when it comes to the buildup on Guam.

Press secretary Charles Reyes, when asked for comment on the draft document yesterday, said the U.S. military regional buildup is strongly viewed as one of the main sources of economic opportunity for an economic recovery, in a critical period under federalization.

He said the CNMI government and the CNMI private business sector are closely collaborating to maximize the economic benefits and reduce the costs of the Marianas U.S. military buildup.

“We want to make sure that the CNMI works with Guam, the federal government, the military, and all stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition into a new economy with federalization and the U.S. military buildup. This effort is but a starting point. Much still needs to be done. We must also coordinate our efforts with the Tinian leadership,” Reyes told Saipan Tribune.

The federal government will take over CNMI immigration by Nov. 28, 2009 as mandated by U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act.

Among other things, the CNMI may lose its critical Chinese and Russian tourist markets under the visa waiver program of the federalization law. This means millions in tourism revenue loss for the CNMI.

But the void left by these two tourist market, should no legislative fix or administrative fix occur, can be filled up by economic benefits of the regional military buildup in Guam.

Strategic goal

The draft document's goal is to emphasize military opportunities associated with the regional buildup as the CNMI tries to understand how the military buildup can be beneficial to its people.

Currently, there are three recommended choices of strategy:

1. Treat Guam as the competition regarding military operations and service support;

2. Recognize Guam as an ally and offer complementary operational support and services; and

3. Maintain status quo by continuing to market the CNMI's natural resources to the surrounding populations.

Consultants Project Management Operations LLC, in the draft document, recommends for the CNMI to choose option 2 - be a complement to Guam's military buildup with the following strategy focuses in order of importance: operational support; supply and maintenance; and quality of life services.

“If the CNMI views Guam as a partner, then together, the communities can provide a complementary set of operational support, supply and services, along with the opportunities to utilize the natural resources and beauty that the CNMI offers. The islands can enjoy the successes of Guam and reap the benefits of the increased revenue opportunities for the near and long term alike,” the draft document said.

If the CNMI views Guam as its competition regarding military operations and support “then the CNMI has lost,” the consultants said.

CNMI military opportunities

The CNMI, being a U.S. territory and its capital island of Saipan only 120 miles from Guam, can provide alternate airport and seaport facilities that could be used to enhance training opportunities for deployment training, and operations and maintenance logistics function, the document said.

In addition to the training opportunities, the airfield operations facilities, supported by the U.S. Air Force Guam operations staff, provide alternate hangar capacity in the case of relocation of aircraft and crews due to mission requirements and/or weather.

“The CNMI's natural resources and proximity to the other forces in the region give it a unique competitive advantage that should be explored. The CNMI's unique situation provides the DoD with an excellent option for training and support services,” the consultants said.

The CNMI's resources can also be used to provide surface training areas.

For example, a small arms training range, which is being planned for Tinian, is an excellent way for the CNMI to use its resources to meet the needs of the Marines and take advantage of the chance to provide critical operational support while gaining the opportunity to receive capital investment into the CNMI economy.

Historically, ranges of this nature have been estimated to provide between $10 million and $25 million in capital investment into the construction of the project.

“The CNMI has the opportunity to propose further capital investments by offering land for ammunition storage facilities on Tinian. The users of this range will require ammunition for each training rotation,” the draft document said.

Other potential and specific opportunities the CNMI may have with the U.S. Department of Defense: port of embarkation and debarkation; staging of prepositioned equipment; deployment support; deployment training; and ground forces training.

“Overall, [this gives] the best opportunity for the CNMI to show its awareness of the DoD's needs and to demonstrate its willingness to support the U.S. mission in the region. The CNMI needs to move swiftly, but surely, to secure a seat at the table when support operations are being discussed,” the consultants said.

Under the military supply and maintenance support, the CNMI can provide fuel storage and distribution; water storage and distribution; waste removal and processing; food handling and distribution; provide meals, catering services, potable water and ice; provide depot and field level maintenance as well as electronic maintenance; and storage facilities of all kinds.

Lastly, the CNMI can be a place where military service personnel can relax.

“The calm waters and placid beaches set an amazing backdrop that can be utilized to provide the much needed rest and relaxation opportunities that the DoD provides to its service members and families,” the draft report said.

Wanted: Military liaison

Consultants Project Management Operations LLC, in the draft document, also recommended the CNMI's hiring of a military liaison “to help create the necessary relationships to effectively meet both the military's and the CNMI's requirements.”

“The CNMI needs that person who can build rapport by speaking the language and understanding the needs of the [Department of Defense] while maintaining vigilant support of the CNMI's resources, heritage and goals for providing support to the DoD and its allies,” the document reads.

A copy of the draft document is now available on the CNMI Department of Commerce website, www.commerce.gov.mp.

Comments on the draft document can be sent to commercedept@pticom.com.

Residents say they should be consulted in military buildup

Residents say they should be consulted in military buildup

Friday, 25 September 2009 00:00
By Richelle Ann P. Agpoon - For Variety

COMMUNITY members have advised visiting U.S. Navy archaeologists to consult with indigenous groups regarding the impact of the military buildup on the CNMI.

Navy archaeologists Valerie Curtis, front, and Eric West, fourth from left, pose with officials of the U.S Navy, the Historic Preservation Office, the Air Force and Saipan community members after the public meeting held at the Coastal Resources Management Office in San Jose on Wednesday.

“The indigenous groups are the ones utilizing the resources and you need to consider their side,” Saipan resident James Arriola said during the public meeting on Wednesday.

Traditional healers, for example, utilize the plants that may be affected by the buildup, he added.

According to archaeologist Valerie Curtis they would take into consideration the need to preserve traditional herbs and plants.

In a separate meeting on Tinian, Tuesday, residents suggested calling the military buildup area its traditional name, “old village.”

A recommendation was also made to document the history of the place where ancient remains can still be found.

Curtis said they want to preserve the area’s “essence of history.”

She said they will write about the history of the area and copies will be given to the Historic Preservation Office and the Public School System.

The Tinian people were also concerned about having access to the area even during the buildup, she added.

The people were particularly concerned about the Tinian pepper which grows in the area.

All the comments of the local people about historical and environmental impacts of the buildup will be considered by the military, Navy archaeologist Eric West said.

“The reason why we are doing the meeting is to hear the public’s opinion so we can make the appropriate mitigation,” West said.

Those who were not able to attend these meetings swill have another opportunity to raise their concerns in January.

For more information and comments, e-mail valerie.n.curtis@navy.mil This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

BREAKING NEWS: Former Guam Speaker Dies

Written by Patti Arroyo, Pacific News Center - Guam, Saipan, CNMI, Asia-Pacific
Thursday, 26 March 2009 06:06

Guam - His role in the quest for self-governance was crucial to calling attention to Guam’s fight to gain control from U.S. Navy rule. The famed Guam Congress walkout took place 60 years ago this month, and today Guam remembers Carlos P. Taitano, one of the assemblymen who led the charge.

Taitano passed away at his Los Angeles, California home on March 25th.

A news release says the former Guam speaker died peacefully, surrounded by his children Linda, Carl and Tyrone.

It was Carlos P. Taitano, a young assemblyman in the Guam Congress that reported to the media that they had walked out of meetings in defiance of the U.S. military rule over Guam, in effect leading to the signing of the Organic Act.

Carlos Pangilinen Taitano, dead at the age of 92.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Marine monuments will support military’s needs

THURSDAY, 08 JANUARY 2009 00:00 BY GEMMA Q. CASAS - VARIETY NEWS STAFF

President Bush says the newly declared marine sanctuaries in the Pacific, which include the CNMI’s Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, will be used to help the U.S. armed forces fulfill its need to get adequate training, readiness and global mobility in and around the region to keep peace and security around the world.

Under the authority granted by the U.S. 1906 Antiquities Act, Bush signed three declarations on Jan. 6 placing the Marianas Trench, the waters around the three uninhabited northernmost islands of the CNMI and 21 undersea volcanoes, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in the central Pacific Ocean and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument in American Samoa under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government.

“On this occasion of the establishment of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, I confirm that the policy of the United States shall be to continue measures established in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument to protect the training, readiness, and global mobility of U.S. armed forces, and ensure protection of navigation rights and high seas freedoms under the law of the sea, which are essential to the peace and prosperity of civilized nations,” the president said.

“The security of America, the prosperity of its citizens, and the protection of the ocean environment are complementary and reinforcing priorities. As the United States takes measures to conserve and protect the living and non-living resources of the ocean, it shall ensure preservation of the navigation rights and high seas freedoms enjoyed by all nations under the law of the sea,” he added.

The three new Pacific monuments measure about 195,000 square miles and are the biggest marine sanctuaries in the world.

James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the Bush administration welcomes the presence of the military in and around the Marianas monument “because they will be some of our best eyes and ears as to what’s going on with the resource.”

Connaughton said the military buildup on Guam in the coming years will need the protected areas to do scientific research and other projects.

“The military will be flying their missions, and sailing their ships, and running their submarines in and around these areas. But I want to observe the active military activity will be taking place south of the Northern Islands, and so we have set this up in a way where it’s going to be fully compatible with those activities,” he added.

Under the nine-page declaration for the CNMI, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument will be managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, in consultation with the Department of Defense.

Within three months after Jan. 6, an advisory council will be created.

The monument declaration essentially allows “the right of innocent passage in territorial seas, without requirement for prior notification to or permission from a coastal state.

It also grants the following rights to the U.S:

•The right of transit passage for ships, submarines, and aircraft in straits used for international navigation; a right that may not be suspended, denied, hampered, or impaired.

•The right of archipelagic sea lanes passage in designated sea lanes and air routes, and passage routes normally used for international navigation in archipelagic nations.

• The exercise of high seas freedoms in exclusive economic zones, including the conduct of military activities, exercises, and surveys.

Navy cited by EPA for Clean Water Act violations

Wednesday, 03 December 2008 00:00 by Zita Y. Taitano | Variety News Staff

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cited U.S. Navy for violations of the Clean Water Act.

Violations included discharges from the Navy’s Apra Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant that exceeded water quality permit limits, and several unpermitted discharges to the Namo River that occurred while the Fena water treatment plant was under repair.

The infractions were found during inspections conducted on facilities at the Naval Base Guam last July.

Inspectors also learned the Navy did not fully or properly implement controls for storm water discharges from industrial activities on the base. It was also discovered that three Navy construction sites did not have proper storm water pollution measures.

Aside from the inspections at Naval Base, EPA conducted similar compliance inspections at Andersen Air Force Base.

The EPA compliance inspections at both Department of Defense facilities in Guam included underground storage tanks, solid and hazardous waste management, wastewater and storm water management and compliance with oil spill prevention requirements.

According to Alexis Strauss, EPA’s water division director for the Pacific Southwest, the matter at hand is an important factor that all military facilities on Guam must be in compliance with.

“EPA will work with Guam EPA and DoD to ensure construction and ongoing operations comply fully with environmental requirements to protect and restore Guam's environment,” Strauss said.

Lt. Donnell Evans, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Forces Marianas, said the Navy is addressing the notice of violations from EPA.

“Our environmental team is in close coordination with EPA and expects to meet all requirements and timelines associated with the submission of corrective action plans,” Evans said.