By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

MILITARY officials said the inclusion of Saipan and Tinian in the recently concluded scoping meetings ahead of the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Japan to Guam next year signifies that the armed forces have serious plans for the CNMI.
Col. Clyde T. Burton of the U.S. Marine Corps in Hawaii said Saipan and Tinian were included in the scoping meetings amid plans for integrated training for the yet-to-be-relocated Marines.
He said the training sites may even “extend to other Northern Islands.”
One of the uninhabited Northern Islands is already being used by the military for live-fire drill exercises — Farallon de Medinilla.
Teresa Bernhard, an environmental planner with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington D.C., said the distribution of the 8,000 Marines that will be relocated is still unknown.
She said there is a possibility that Marine training will be extended to the Northern Marianas, which is why Saipan and Tinian were included in the scoping meetings this month.
“Right now the distribution of the facilities and the people that are coming is unknown,” she said.
“The Marines will require training. There is a possibility that training activities will come here. We felt that rather than coming here later when the decision is made, let’s come in now and understand the concerns of the community as we are developing our training strategy,” she said when asked why Saipan and Tinian were included in the scoping meetings.
Bernhard said the people from Guam have raised concerns about safety, transportation, utilities and the preservation of their natural environment.
She said there were also some discussions about the establishment of a Ballistic Missile Defense or BMD in Guam.
“They were talking about what it meant to the community and those are issues again of safety,” she said.
The military is proposing to have 630 servicemembers man the Guam-based BMD which is tasked to “intercept missiles that have the potential to impact military assets.”
Bernhard said public comments will be considered in the Draft Environmental Impact Study.
“The comments are used in the facilities planning process…. The next formal thing is the document that is called the Draft Environmental Impact Study. It will be sent out for a public comment period and we will have a similar venue and give a presentation,” she said.
Local historian Genevieve Cabrera expressed concern over the possible physical impact of the planned military activities on the islands’ environment.
“My main concern is that our islands are physically very, very small. We need both the local people and the local administration to sit down with military representatives and come to an understanding on how this proposal is going to affect our islands physically, the environment, and other socio-economic impacts. The 8,000 Marines and their families, stationed on Guam, are not going to be on Guam 365 days a year,” she said.
“I’m also pretty confident that there are going to be some considerations for the extension of training to perhaps the Northern Islands. We can’t even set foot on Medinilla,” she added.
She said she expects some Marines and their dependents to visit the Northern Marianas from Guam.
“Some of these individuals don’t have a clue what the Northern Marianas are about. Specifically why Guam is separate from the Northern Mariana Islands. They’ll want to know more about the history. Some of them will literally go and visit places that have history. We’re going to have visitors I think,” said Cabrera.