MPLA board redefines ‘investor’

On Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2004, the MPLA board of directors defied the wishes of the House of Representatives, the Senate, Coastal Resources Management, the clear majority of the CNMI public, the vast majority of the Northern Islands residents, and even MPLA’s own management! They did so even though:

* The House of Representatives has voted unanimously to suspend any new pozzolan mining activity until a 90-day study could be conducted.

* The Senate has asked MPLA for a task force that involves residents of Pagan.

* Coastal Resources Management has asked MPLA not to allow any mining to commence on Pagan without an environmental impact study.

* A recent SaipanTribune.com poll has shown that the CNMI public supports the 90-day study by a 4-1 margin.

* The United Northern Marianas Islanders Association has strongly opposed Azmar and supports a study and RFP to find legitimate mining investors.

* MPL’s own Property Management staff has recommended that the MPLA board suspend all existing negotiations on Pagan mining and instead put out a request for proposals to all interested investors.

In the face of this clear and overwhelming government and public opposition, how could the MPLA board of directors fail to reject Ken Moore’s permit?

“We want investors to come. We should lure them, instead of denying them,” said MPLA chair Ana Demapan-Castro as the MPLA board voted to give Ken Moore 60 more days.

What about the upcoming investment conference sponsored by the Department of the Interior, at their great expense, to help the CNMI attract real investors? The conference is in September! Ignoring the call for an RFP to interested investors for another 60 days means we miss this chance to find real investors for Pagan.

“We want investors to come.” What does that mean? Anyone who calls himself an investor is an investor?

What kind of investor has no money? What kind of investor has no business plan? What kind of investor keeps changing his story? Ken Moore is not an investor. He’s a speculator who has changed his story so many times that it makes your head spin!

First the “investment” money was coming from the Azmar Foundation, a non-profit organization to build a WWII museum. When PaganWatch exposed that planned misappropriation of funds, he then said the money is coming from secret investors. Then he changes the story again and says it is coming from a secret customer.

He also changed the price he offered for 200 million tons of pozzolan. First it was $45 per ton. Then, after PaganWatch put out the Azmar/MPLA Deal Calculator that demonstrated how extremely one-sided in favor of Azmar the profit-sharing would be, Ken Moore changed the projected price to $18.50 per ton to hide his profit margin.

Ken Moore’s misrepresentations abound. First he tells MPLA and the CNMI government that he’ll be in production and money will go into CNMI coffers in just 30 days, then changes it to 60 days, then changes it to 90 days. And how is this supposed to happen without a dock to deliver heavy equipment, materials and load ships with tons of pozzolan? Building a dock will take a year or more.

Also disturbing are the promises he makes to the Northern Islands residents; specific items like a school and a dispensary and housing for workers. He says that money will be set aside for these purposes. But when you look at the details of his permit request and his so-called “pro forma”—that worthless few pages of unverifiable promises—it is clear that any money for these people will come from the sale of pozzolan. That is far different than the specific funds, already in existence, earmarked for them that he promised the Northern Islanders. Money from a sale would not come until after the pozzolan has been successfully mined and sold, which is most likely years away, if ever.

It is already abundantly clear that Ken Moore’s promises are worthless and that he is in no position to be making deals with the CNMI. What does it take to convince the MPLA that it’s time to move on?

Here we have a person trying to get a permit when he has never even been to Pagan, when he has never sent a geologist there, when he doesn’t have any mining experience and offers only a promise that he can raise money. But he does have a good reason to try to get the permit. If he succeeds, he can turn around and handle the mining opportunity properly. He can do what the CNMI should be doing right now. He can put out an RFP and find a legitimate company that can come in and do all the work from planning, obtaining permits, financing and operating. And with the terms of his permit, he only has to provide the CNMI with 7 percent of the revenues from any pozzolan sold. That leaves 93 percent to work with to entice a legitimate operator to join Azmar (since Azmar can’t sub-contract the work, he’ll have to partner with a real operator). Or he can block any subsequent permitting until he’s paid off.

Ken Moore holding any kind of a permit is clearly not in the CNMI’s best interests. It discourages real investors who will see him as a competitor with home-field advantage. It will complicate efforts to find a real investor—one that knows how to mine without ruining the environment and who will share in the profits fairly, not exploitatively.

There is also something that many people seem to have forgotten about and that needs to be said: The land in question belongs to the Marianas Public Land Trust. This Trust belongs to the indigenous people of the Marianas. The indigenous people have rights! When we express our concern about how our land and resources are managed, when we say we want to participate in how our land and resources are managed, how dare anyone deny us that right! How dare people like Don Farrell, who is not indigenous, and Ambrose Bennett, who is not indigenous and is horribly uninformed and misinformed, oppose the true owners of Pagan and try to disenfranchise us and keep us out! How dare the MPLA board simply ignore us, conduct negotiations in secret, and deny us any real participation! How dare Senator Adriano complain that we have stood up and are fighting to protect our homeland! Shame on you! If you and Senators Crisostimo and Mendiola would only do your jobs properly, we would not have to spend all our time and energy doing what you should be doing for us in the first place. You who were elected and appointed to represent and protect our interests!!! How can you call selling out the people and land of the Northern Islands to the likes of Ken Moore so he can ruin our land, pollute our waters and walk away leaving us to clean up the mess, protecting our interests? The people’s long term interests here are not promoted nor protected but breached by the very people sworn to protect it from exploitation and seek the best options and benefits for the people, the true owners.

It’s always about money isn’t it? Money for a few selfish people at the expense of the indigenous people of the Northern Marianas.

Peter J. Pangelinan Perez
PaganWatch
http://www.chamorro.com/pagan