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‘Read the economic impact report’
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Posted on Oct 01 2008
The Friends of the Monument would like to urge Dr. Ignacio Dela Cruz to read the Economic Impact of a Proposed Mariana Trench Marine National Monument authored by University of Guam Economics professor Dr. Tom Iverson. From his recent statements in the media, it would appear that Dr. Dela Cruz did not take the time to read the study. He appears to be confused on some of the numbers and the different sources of funding.
Dr. Dela Cruz is correct in saying that the NOAA official, Allen Tom, cannot take sides; he can only report on what happened in Hawaii with Papahanaumokuakea. According to the Marianas Variety, Mr. Tom told Dr. Dela Cruz that the Hawaiian monument created 25 jobs and gets about $8 million in annual federal funding.
The Iverson report predicts that our monument would get approximately one quarter the federal funding of the Hawaiian monument. It predicts that 14 jobs directly funded by the federal government would be created and that the first year of federal funding would total approximately $1.67 million. Federal funding would not be the only source of revenue, however. There would also be an increase in research and education dollars and tourism from the private sector. All told, not just including federal dollars, the monument will create 400 jobs and provide $10 million in direct spending.
If Dr. Dela Cruz does not want to read the entire report, for the sake of expediency he can turn to Table 3 on Page 10 and Table 6 on page 12 of the report. We hope this clears up the confusion.
[B]Leticia Camacho[/B] [I]San Roque, Saipan[/I]
