DEQ seeks environmental assessment

The Division of Environmental Quality has asked the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard whether they have conducted an assessment of the area where the military vessels are currently stationed to prevent any possibility of hitting an ordnance that may have been buried within the vicinity.

DEQ Director Ignacio Cabrera raised this issue during a recent meeting on disaster preparedness attended by various federal and local government agencies.

Ignacio also asked for their assistance in solving environmental problems left behind by the military because these poses a threat to the community.

Cabrera’s concern is based on the possibility that the anchors dropped by any of the vessels might have hit one of the ordnance disposed of by the military in the CNMI waters several year ago.

“If the ordnance that have been buried there hit any of these ships, there will surely be a disaster. We cannot afford any disaster to happen,” he said. The DEQ chief said he also wanted to make sure that the anchors do not hit the corals in the area.

The local government has shown its ability to take concrete measures in dealing with environmental problems when DEQ discovered 53 electrical capacitors in Tanapag village in 1988. These capacitors contained large amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls, PCB’s and were brought to the CNMI in the first half of the century. These were used by the US military, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Trust Territory Government of the Pacific Islands. Discarded capacitors leaked PCB’s and contaminated much of the soil within the village.

Cabrera said the discovery of PCB contamination in Tanapag village led to a massive soil remediation project conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers and CNMI lawmakers to put pressure on Washington to continue to study and clean up these areas.

DEQ shipped some 12,000 gallons of used oil to the U.S. mainland when the marine tanker ran aground the Rota coral reef several years ago.

Cabrera has also asked the federal government to look at soil contamination in the Lower Base area. Likewise, he wants the U.S. military to look at the jet fuel it left in Koblerville to prevent any possible contamination of water in the community.

“These are concerns that need to be addressed because the community is at stake,” he said.