The bottom line on the pozzolan negotiations

The Marianas Public Lands Authority has on its doorstep a company that seeks to obtain a permit to mine pozzolan on Pagan. This company, Azmar International, has failed to meet the most basic terms of the MPLA permit application despite having been granted a generous 60-day conditional period. Azmar has yet to demonstrate its financial capability, its qualifications to conduct a mining operation, or its plan to mitigate the environmental impacts of its proposed project. It hasn’t even given MPLA a local business address.

With so much at stake—the ecological health of Pagan, the hopes of displaced Northern Islands residents, and the long-term economic future of the CNMI—and with a grossly inadequate proposal in its hands, what has the MPLA board of directors done? Its members have voted to negotiate with Azmar anyway and in secret, to boot. The board’s action is beyond disappointing: it is outrageous. And no matter what board chair Ana Demapan-Castro might say, it is also completely indefensible.

Demapan-Castro has argued that MPLA has an obligation to protect the confidentiality of the business unless and until an agreement is reached. But what obligation does MPLA have to a business that has done such a poor job of meeting the simplest of MPLA’s permit requirements? Instead of going to such lengths to accommodate a company that has so little credibility, why is MPLA not actively soliciting proposals from companies that can provide, at the very least, a decent proposal?

And setting aside MPLA’s obligations to businesses—what about MPLA’s obligations to the public? The board has shown much concern for protecting Azmar’s competitive advantage, but its action has now placed the public at a severe disadvantage. Contrary to what the MPLA board seems to think, it is not enough for us to merely be informed of MPLA’s final decision. We must also be involved in the process by which that decision is reached. Knowledge is power, after all, and a healthy democracy requires transparent institutions. MPLA’s secret negotiations with Azmar do little to assure us that its final decision will truly be in the CNMI’s best interests. How would we know if ALL the facts and circumstances of MPLA’s decision with respect to Azmar are actually presented to us, as Demapan-Castro has promised? Does she expect us to simply take her word for it?

The bottom line is this: The pozzolan on Pagan belongs to the people of the CNMI. If mining is going to take place, we owe it to ourselves to make sure that it is done professionally and competently, with minimal environmental impact, and with the fairest share of the revenue secured for the CNMI. Secret negotiations between MPLA and Azmar rob us of the ability to do just that. If there is a loophole in the CNMI Open Meetings and Records Act that permits secret negotiations where final decisions and agreements can be made as long as they are not called official actions, then the law should be changed. And if Azmar can’t even put together an acceptable permit application, then it is not the best company to do the job, and there is nothing to negotiate. It is that simple.

Tina Sablan
Saipan