Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Joint Military Training (“CJMT”)
The United States Navy issued its Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the CNMI Joint Military Training (“CJMT”) program on April 03, 2015. CJMT proposed to largely supersede the prior programs in the CNMI, such as the MITT and the Guam-CNMI Relocation Programs, with an expansion of live-fire training activities and infrastructure to support the relocation of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
The CJMT proposed to correct stated training deficiencies in the region by establishing live-fire unit-level training on the islands of Tinian and Pagan. These training activities proposed up to 42 weeks per year with 22 weeks of live-fire training on Tinian and up to 35 weeks per year with 16 weeks per year of live-fire training on Pagan. Training activities on Tinian would be developed on the existing Military Leased Area (“MLA”), and training on Pagan would require additional property interest in the entirety of the island.
During the comment period for the CJMT DEIS, the draft received more than 27,000 comments largely in opposition to the proposed activities. In response to the perceived size and magnitude of the proposed activities contained in CJMT, and the impact the additional land requirements would have on the CNMI’s Covenant agreement with the United States, Governor Eloy S. Inos sent a request to President Barack Obama on October 2, 2015 to initiate consultations provided for in Section 902 of the Covenant to discuss the “the United States Department of Defense’s desire and intentions to acquire new properties in the Northern Mariana Islands (and to alter the proposed use of land already under lease).”
In his letter, Governor Inos stated his belief that the Section 902 consultations were appropriate for this discussion as “the recently proposed Department of Defense activities in the Northern Mariana Islands will – if carried out as planned – radically impact the fragile marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the quality of life for the citizens and residents living here. Moreover, the Department of Defense’s proposed projects will fundamentally alter existing land lease agreements entered into by the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States nearly forty years ago.”
These consultations and the framework for them is provided under Section 902 of the Covenant agreement which states:
“The Government of the United States and the Government of the Northern Mariana Islands will consult regularly on all matters affecting the relationship between them. At the request of either Government, and not less frequently than every ten years, the President of the United States and the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands will designate special representatives to meet and to consider in good faith such issues affecting the relationship between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States as may be designated by either Government and to make a report and recommendations with respect thereto. Special representatives will be appointed in any event to consider and to make recommendations regarding future multi-year financial assistance to the Northern Mariana Islands pursuant to Section 701, to meet at least one year prior to the expiration of every period of such financial assistance.”
On December 29, 2015, Governor Eloy S. Inos passed away, and Lieutenant Governor Ralph DLG. Torres assumed the governorship. Soon after, on January 4, 2016, Governor Torres wrote to President Obama to re-assert the action of Governor Inos in requesting for 902 Consultations.
On February 18, 2016, the Department of Defense announced its intent to issue a Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the CJMT project stating, “Given the amount of feedback from the community, it became clear early in the planning process that we needed to revise this study.” The initial timeline for the revision envisioned its release in March 2017.
In May 2016, President Obama agreed to the request for consultation and appointed Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Ester Kia’aina as the Special Representative for the United States Government. Governor Torres was designated as the Special Representative for the CNMI.
Relevant provisions of the Covenant Agreement to this consultation were:
Section 802(a) of the Covenant specifies that the CNMI will make available 17,799 acres on the island of Tinian, 177 acres on the island of Saipan, and the entire 206 acres of the island of Farallon de Medinilla for lease to the United States “to enable it to carry out its defense responsibilities.”
Section 802(b) affirmed that the United States “has no present need for or present intention to acquire any greater interest in property listed above than that which is granted to it under Subsection 803(a), or to acquire any property in addition to that listed in Subsection (a), above, in order to carry out its defense responsibilities.”
Section 806(a) provides that the United States “will continue to recognize and respect the scarcity and special importance of land in the Northern Mariana Islands.”
Section 806(a) further provides that “[i]f the United States must acquire any interest in real property not transferred to it under this Covenant, it will follow the policy of seeking to acquire only the minimum area necessary to accomplish the public purpose for which the real property is required, of seeking only the minimum interest in real property necessary to support such public purpose, acquiring title only if the public purpose cannot be accomplished if a lesser interest is obtained, and of seeking first to satisfy its requirement by acquiring an interest in public rather than private real property.”
Section 806(b) and (c) provides that the United States may acquire for public purpose any interest in real property in the CNMI by purchase, lease, exchange, gift, or other voluntary means, or through eminent domain.
Further, Section 803 (c) of the Covenant required the United States and the CNMI to negotiate and execute a separate “Technical Agreement.”
The Technical Agreement was executed simultaneously with the Covenant and includes terms relating to the payment of lease costs, leaseback of property, joint use arrangements, and social and civil infrastructure arrangements.
In the official position paper of the CNMI presented in the first round of consultations, the CNMI presented a series of issues affecting the relationship between the CNMI and the United States caused by the CJMT proposal and other military activities in the CNMI.
The issues presented were:
· The CJMT is contrary to the Covenant, the Technical Agreement, and the 1983 Lease Agreement
· The CJMT would prevent the CNMI from becoming economically self-sufficient
· The Government and the citizens of the CNMI have been precluded from meaningfully participating in fundamental decisions about the future of their homeland
· Military activities on Farallon de Medinilla impermissibly preludes reasonable civilian re-use of the island
For the discussion, the CNMI presented recommendations for the consultative process. These recommendations were:
· Should the Navy wish to continue pursuing the CJMT, the Project must be substantially revised to ensure compliance with all binding land use requirements, including, without limitation, Covenant Sections 102, 802, and 806; the Technical Agreement; and Section 8(b) of the 1983 Lease Agreement.
· For the U.S. Navy to address and mitigate economic impacts of military activity to include, impacts to the CNMI Visa Waiver Parole Program and to conduct a full economic impact analysis of CJMT and the cumulative impact caused by other training activities in the Commonwealth.
· Increase transparency of any future property acquisition proposals that acknowledge commitment to full compliance of Section 806 (b) of the Covenant, among other elements related to the process and engagement prior to seeking Congressional authorization of land acquisition provided under Section 806 (b)
· For the United States to secure needed infrastructure, public services, and community development on Tinian to include a statement by the United States that the military-civilian partnership contemplated in the Covenant has not resulted in meaningful improvements to the infrastructure and public services on Tinian and a commitment by the United States to fully and properly remediate contamination caused by prior military activities by a date certain.
At the conclusion of the consultation rounds that occurred throughout 2016, the CNMI and the Special Representative for the United States government agreed upon a final recommendation to present to President Obama. The final report, published and disseminated in January 2017, included a singular recommendation related to Department of Defense activities that was agreed upon by the consulting parties.
On February 18, 2016, the Department of Defense announced its intent to issue a Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the CJMT project stating, “Given the amount of feedback from the community, it became clear early in the planning process that we needed to revise this study.” The initial timeline for the revision envisioned its release in March 2017
As of this writing, there is no information on the release date or contents of the Revised EIS for the CJMT project. All subsequent information contained in this report related to military impacts from CJMT will be based on the contents of the 2015 DEIS.