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In-house task force endorsed to tackle mining
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Posted on Jul 05 2004
The Senate has endorsed the immediate creation of an in-house task force at the Marianas Public Lands Authority to address pozzolan mining issues on Pagan.
Senate minority leader Pete P. Reyes said that, in a meeting Friday, lawmakers agreed to issue a statement pushing for the establishment of “a task force that involves residents of Pagan.”
“It’s not endorsing a task force to be funded through a reprogramming authority [as proposed by a House bill] but an internally established task force within MPLA that involves the Northern Islands mayor and residents,” said Reyes.
The MPLA earlier said that the bill’s proposed task force is unnecessary because the MPLA is capable of reviewing the mining applications internally.
Reyes, for his part, said an internal task force would be useless if it does not involve concerned parties such as the residents.
“MPLA has been screwing up. They have a history of screwing up, and I can easily cite cases so I hope they allow residents of Pagan to participate. It’s their island,” he said.
He said that he has no problem with pozzolan mining “just like the people of Pagan, but the residents must be involved” in the discussion.
The senator said that, although Pagan is public land, it does not authorize MPLA to handle the case unilaterally.
“Public land means the land is owned by the people of the CNMI. MPLA is only representing the people that own the land,” he said.
MPLA earlier noted that it—not the Legislature or private individuals—have the ultimate authority on the use of Pagan land, citing the lack of ownership by any person of the land.
