Tinian, Rota senators lash out at Torres

Rep. Stanley T. Torres is known for his biting remarks, but when he blamed Tinian and Rota for Saipan’s power crisis, he aroused the ire of the two islands’ lawmakers.

Senators from Tinian and Rota have lashed at Torres for suggesting that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is having financial problems because the Rota and Tinian power system do not pay for themselves.

Torres’ comments were divisive and counterproductive, according to the senators.

Sen. Henry San Nicolas, who opened discussion of the topic on the Senate floor yesterday, said it was unfair of Torres to suggest that each island in the Northern Marianas weather the crisis individually.

“It is unwarranted for Congressman Torres to question such issue unless he considers that CUC Rota and CUC Tinian are autonomous agencies of the Tinian and Rota governments, rather than divisions of an autonomous agency of the Commonwealth government,” San Nicolas said.

“As a member of the 16th Legislature and a citizen of Tinian, I sincerely wonder whether he is trying to say that with the trying times our Commonwealth is facing, the three main islands must act and pursue their survival independently,” he added.

If that is the case, he said, Tinian is at a disadvantage, given the island’s lack of resources and the fact that the U.S. military owns more than half of its land.

“Maybe with the assistance of Congressman Torres, if he is willing, Tinian can claim the money earned by the CNMI government from the sale of two-thirds of Tinian that is in the Marianas Public Land Trust, and pay the amount Congressman Torres is asserting Tinian owes. And I am challenging him with this task for the sake of keeping our CNMI government afloat,” San Nicolas said.

Senators Joseph Mendiola and Paul Manglona also spoke about Torres’ comments. They echoed San Nicolas’ sentiments, and called for unity and cooperation among government leaders.

Earlier this month, Torres came out publicly saying that Saipan customers are paying for utility service to Rota and Tinian residents.

He said CUC-Saipan incurs an annual surplus of about $1 million. Despite this, Saipan is constantly lacking in funds for fuel because of shortfalls in CUC’s Tinian and Rota operations.

He said Tinian customers collectively pay $4.7 million less than the $12.7-million cost of their power system. Meanwhile, Rota has an average shortfall of $800,000 a year.

“Saipan customers are paying for Tinian and Rota. No wonder Telesource wants to move to Saipan to take over our power plants. This is where the beef is,” said Torres.

Telesource CNMI, which operates the Tinian power plant, has offered to bring one of its generators to augment the power supply on Saipan.

CUC executive director Anthony Guerrero said Torres’ figures were “generally correct.”