PaganWatch cautions vs donation promises

A non-profit watchdog group said that lawmakers should not be blinded by the donation offers of a joint venture company seeking to extract pozzolan from Pagan.

PaganWatch, in a letter to the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, maintained that the Commonwealth could maximize the economic benefits of Pagan’s pozzolan if the government creates a mining task force and have all interested investors undergo a bid process.

On the other hand, allowing JG Sablan Rock Quarry Inc. and its business partner, Bridgecreek International Corp., to use JG Sablan’s 1995 mining permit would cause CNMI a financial disaster, the group added.

“Giving the pozzolan to a company for pennies on the dollar in the hopes of receiving a small portion back in the form of so-called ‘donations’ is a ridiculous proposition. It is less about Bridgecreek helping schools than about their buying the support of parents and educators,” PaganWatch leader Pete Perez said.

He was referring to JG Sablan-Bridgecreek’s offer to create special accounts for the Northern Islands and the Public School System, in addition to paying royalties and fees for extracting Pagan pozzolan.

“The community is far better served when revenues make it to government coffers, where the Legislature decides where they should be used, whether it be for schools, medical services, or other urgent and competing needs of the community,” Perez added.

PaganWatch is pushing for the passage of House Bill 15-56, which would temporarily halt any mining operations on Pagan until a multi-sector mining task force has been created and interested investors have undergone a bid process.

But JG Sablan-Bridgecreek believes that the bill does not apply to the joint venture company, saying that JG Sablan’s 1995 permit is still valid. The partners also believe that House Bill 15-56 would apply only to companies applying for new mining permits.

However, PaganWatch maintains that JG Sablan’s 1995 permit is invalid and that documents obtained through an Open Government Act request with the former Marianas Public Lands Authority prove so.

“JG Sablan’s claim that their 1995 permit is valid and legitimate is false. What is true, is JG Sablan enjoyed a special relationship with some MPLA board members that resulted in the failure of the agency to take swift and appropriate action in response to multiple and severe breaches of the terms of the permit by JG Sablan,” Perez said.

“Although MPLA refuses to clarify the status of the JG Sablan permit, MPLA documents obtained by PaganWatch via the Open Government Act show that is was indeed terminated. If, in spite of all the documented evidence provided by MPLA itself, as well as their assurances to PaganWatch that no action would be taken on any JG Sablan permit without a public hearing, if indeed MPLA has reinstated the permit, then their reinstating actions were highly improper and most likely illegal,” he added.

Bridgecreek, a Los Angeles-based real estate company, has committed to investing at least $10 million into the project. The company said a buyer in China is now waiting for buy 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons of pozzolan per month.