Divert EIS will be released this week

A top U.S. Air Force official representing a proposed divert airfield project in the CNMI disclosed yesterday that plans for a divert airfield on either Saipan, Tinian, or on both islands would be released to the public this week.

U.S. military officials addressed reporters after a meeting with the Commonwealth Ports Authority yesterday. From left to right are, Col. Michael R. Cardoza, Brig. Gen. Andrew Toth, and Roy Tsutsui. (Dennis B. Chan)

Pacific Air Forces Brig. Gen. Andrew J. Toth, along with other Air Force and Defense officials, met with Commonwealth Ports Authority executives and board members yesterday for a courtesy visit to discuss the proposed divert project.

“The revised [environmental impact statement] is going to be released here within the next couple of days,” Toth told reporters after their meeting yesterday. “The consulting parties have already had a chance to look at it.”

A 45-day period for public comment will be provided after the EIS is released.

“We initially had a preferred alternative,” said Toth. “As a result of consultations with the government of the CNMI and through the Air Force, what we’ve done is we’ve pulled the divert alternative and we just have options that we can go down.”

The three options are a Saipan-only, Tinian-only, and a “hybrid option” spreading the projects out on both islands to lessen impact.

“No preferred alternative here this time,” Toth said.

In earlier impact documents, the Air Force had placed fighter aircraft and munitions storage capabilities. Instead, the Air Force plans to bring in 12 tanker aircraft to Saipan, two to four at any given time, for six to eight weeks a year, Toth said.

“We’ve significantly backed down the impact here in the CNMI,’

CPA’s ‘no’
A standing resolution passed by the CPA board last year essentially said “no” to the divert project on Saipan, pointing to Tinian instead.

“We are still in coordination with CPA,” Toth said, when directed to the resolution. “Hopefully, as we pull this hybrid solution together, it is mutually beneficial to both the government here as well as the Air Force.

“There is potential out there that maybe the hybrid solution is beneficial to both the government as well as the Air Force,” he added.

Speaking of the U.S. Marine Corps plan to operate at the Tinian airport, Toth repeated that the divert and the Marine Corps plans were “separate actions.”

“From a [Department of Defense] perspective, yes, we are doing all of these things together. However, we are conducting these actions separately,” he said.

“We are all under the DoD—and we are separate services there—but if the hybrid solution is the one that is selected…We can buy some synergies and the activities that [the Marine Corps] may potentially do on the airport on Tinian, [to] pull those together as cost-savings measure,” he said.