Interior seeks austerity exemption

U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta has asked Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to exempt from work hour cuts the Interior-funded brown tree snake control and coral reef protection programs, citing economic and ecological threats to the CNMI if these programs are not allowed to fully operate.

Fitial has yet to respond to Babauta’s Jan. 25 letter request as of late afternoon yesterday.

Babauta told Fitial that only about 35 percent of all incoming, high-risk flights from Guam are being inspected for brown tree snakes because of work hour cuts and the inability to charge overtime costs to the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs grants.

As a result of these austerity measures, Babauta said the reduced clearance rate is well below the brown tree snake interdiction program’s goal of 90 percent, thereby increasing the brown tree snake threat to the CNMI.

The Interior-funded Brown Tree Snake Interdiction Program is administered by the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources. Acting DLNR Secretary Arnold Palacios has already requested Fitial to exempt the program from austerity measures.

“I respectfully urge you to approve his [Palacios] request to ensure that the program can function at its full capacity, thereby helping to protect the Northern Marianas from this harmful invasive species,” Babauta told Fitial in a two-page letter, a copy of which was obtained last night.

Babauta, in his letter, reminded Fitial that a similar request for exemption for the brown tree snake control program was made in December 2010.

“It must be emphasized that the brown tree snake poses a significant ongoing economic and ecological threat to the Commonwealth that is preventable, in part, through your actions,” he said.

Babauta talked about his letter to Fitial in an interview yesterday morning on Capital Hill when he recognized certain employers for hiring eligible U.S. workers as a result of a job fair co-hosted by the CNMI Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of the Interior last year.

Press secretary Angel Demapan, in a separate interview yesterday, confirmed the governor’s receipt of Babauta’s letter but said the governor has yet to respond to it. He said there’s no telling yet what the governor’s response will be.

CNMI Attorney General Edward Buckingham issued a legal opinion in December stating that the governor has the power to impose austerity on both locally and federally funded Executive Branch employees, and that the Legislature cannot-through the budget law-place limitations on the governor’s power to impose austerity, modify, or rescind parts of the governor’s austerity directive or prescribe its terms.

Fitial issued a directive last year subjecting all executive departments and agencies to 16-hour work cuts per pay period, covering local and federally funded personnel as part of the ongoing austerity programs.

As of now, only certain personnel at the departments of Public Safety and Corrections and the Emergency Management Office are exempted from the 16-hour work cuts.

Babauta also raised concerns about the effects of the austerity measures on the CNMI’s Coral Reef Program, also funded by the Interior’s OIA.

Coral reefs, he said, are one of the most important tourist attractions, annually generating significant revenues for the CNMI.

“[The] CNMI’s Coral Reef Program is providing leadership and tangible results for coral reef management and protection in the insular areas. Notable among [the] CNMI’s efforts has been the restoration of LauLau Bay,” he said.

Because of its well-developed coral reefs, LauLau Bay is Saipan’s best dive site, providing important economic as well as ecological benefits.

“Sedimentation from adjacent roads, streams, and hillsides is threatening these resources. We are concerned that these and other restoration efforts funded under the Coral Reef Program will be eroded as a result of the austerity measures,” Babauta told Fitial.

Babauta arrived on Saipan Saturday night to accompany the historic visit of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the CNMI. He stayed behind to check on Interior programs in the CNMI.