House resolution wants deadline extension on mine, quarry regulation

Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) pre-filed a House Joint Resolution to urge Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to request U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to extend the deadline for the CNMI coming under the purview of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. HJR 19-13 was pre-filed last Sept. 20.

The resolution wants MHSA to extend the date to begin regulating quarries and mines in the CNMI and request for provision of assistance from the Educational Field and Small Mine Services. It also wanted to help ensure mine and quarry operators remain in compliance with U.S. federal laws, rules, and regulations.

“Essentially, the intent is to request an extension from U.S. DOL’s MHSA regarding its implementation of federal rules and regulations on mines and quarry operators in the CNMI,” said Demapan.

MHSA is a federal government agency under DOL that enforces safety and health rules for all U.S. mines regardless of size, number of employees, commodity mined, or method of extraction.

Provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 as amended by the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 were also carried out by MHSA. In May of last year, MHSA officials met with all CNMI mine and quarry operators on Saipan.

MHSA national manager Kevin Deel and western district manager Wyatt Andrews told CNMI mine and quarry operators that they would begin their regulatory enforcement in the next five years according to what the law states.

The plan, however, changed in another meeting held in March of this year where MHSA told them that they would begin enforcing the regulations starting next week.

Demapan said MHSA never had a formal presence in the CNMI since the termination of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, “It was only in April 2016 did MHSA require all mine and quarry operators to attend educational outreach program.

“[A] program that did not consist of useful content and was superbly inferior to the other trainings that MHSA usually provides to the rest of the U.S.”

Demapan added the mining and quarrying businesses also contribute to the CNMI economy with taxes the company pays, creation of job opportunities, good landscaping, and income generation. “Due to the short amount of time left, it would be strenuously burdensome and costly to abide to these federal regulations that MHSA would enforce.”