This is most especially true in our beloved commonwealth. While the CNMI received millions of dollars in ARRA funding to stimulate the economy, received millions more through our federal assistance programs, the CNMI’s economy continues to plunder, with payless paydays and a utility company without fuel just on the horizon.
As the problems in our community continue to mount, many of us must sit on the sidelines, waiting, watching, and going on with our daily lives while praying for miracles. Many of us want to speak up, but are well aware that in this climate of fear, one wrong move may cost us our job. And as we all know, jobs aren’t easy to come by these days.
The bottom line is that change in the CNMI is only going to happen when the vast majority of our people are no longer dependent on the government. It will come when private sector jobs across the board offer better pay and better benefits than our government. It will come when the vast majority of our people are no longer satisfied with a political job from the government because they have either a college education or special skills that will make them certifiably employable in the private sector, anywhere in the world. And it will come when the overwhelming majority of our people have had enough of the status quo and will no longer lay down and let it be, but will stand and demand accountability, action, and real results.
So until that day comes, we must continue to walk on egg shells, whispering in small family circles, complaining about the usual gamut of problems that have been haunting our islands for decades, such as soaring utility bills that will only continue to escalate; a broke government that continues to hire based on who they know versus what they know; an increase in the cost of living and a decrease in our salaries; a retirement fund that will be broke within three to five years; rising crime and brave burglars who will rob you and make a sandwich from your refrigerator while you are sleeping; drug and crystal meth dealers, who are preying on our youth; makeshift dumping grounds and littering at every beach; copper wire thieves; payless paydays; and of course, old dinosaurs who refuse to listen to their constituents and insist on lame, unpopular, unoriginal, and insulting ideas to revive the economy, such as casino gambling and reversing the anti-smoking bill.
The truth is, through letters to the editor and community forums, the good people of our community have offered some of the most viable solutions to saving our islands and making them prosperous once again. But all potential solutions continue to fall upon the deaf ears of our leaders. When a few people in our community spoke about fourth-generation nuclear power that was completely safe from catastrophe and terrorist attacks and would bring the cost of power down to as low as seven cents per kilowatt hour for consumers, it was laughed at and dismissed as lunacy. But there was also a time when people were laughed at for thinking the world was round. I was one of the biggest opponents of nuclear-generated power in the CNMI, until I actually did research on it. It’s amazing what a little bit of reading and research can do!
But even if nuclear power was a pipedream and it was widely unacceptable to our people, renewable energy is still a very viable option. A combination of solar power and wind turbines, if done right, will greatly reduce our consumption and dependence on oil, although it will not eliminate it. I’ve even heard about proposals from companies that could meet our electrical needs by harnessing power from waves and current along the Marpi coast, but were turned away. These modern means of producing electricity would bring down the cost of power and provide greater stability. And when I say done right, this means that sticky greedy political hands keep away from all bidding and negotiations and that OPA scrutinizes all requests for proposals and invitations to bid.
And that any greedy politico caught with a hand in the cookie jar gets banished to Pagan to mine pozzolan for the rest of his or her life.
While we wait for some alternative to decrease the CNMI’s dependence on oil, there are some things that must be done immediately. Here are a few:
• Billing fairness across the board. Whether it is a government agency, a casino, the governor’s office, the legislature, or a church, the utility bill must be paid when it is due, with no exceptions, period. This will immediately help our government so that they don’t have to rob Peter to pay Paul to pay Mobil and Shell. As they say in China, “You no pay, you no powa!”
• Prepaid meters. Prepaid meters should be installed in the majority of homes in the CNMI. You pay for what you use. CUC gets paid in a timely manner. And best of all, no more disconnections and no more meter readers getting chased by our boonie dogs. Just like prepaid cellular phone cards, CUC prepaid meter cards should be made available at every store and gas station so they can be bought anywhere and anytime. This is a win-win situation!
• Community conservation team. Let’s work together in the community to find a group of volunteers who are willing to give advice to the community, for free, on how to conserve power and retrofit their homes, and actually spend time helping them do it! This will include simple solutions, such as insulating homes and roofs to cut down on the heat and cut down on air con usage, which is the biggest contributor to power consumption in our islands. We can bring change to our community one house at a time, and we can do it through the spirit of cooperation and volunteerism. Imagine that!
So why do I speak of CUC so much when speaking about the fate of our commonwealth? Because it is what it is. Our economy and infrastructure is dependent on reliable and affordable power. If we can’t keep the power on, and if CUC can’t charge affordable rates, then investors will continue to look elsewhere. Of all the problems
we face in the CNMI, reliable and affordable power must be kept at the top. The fate of our commonwealth depends on it.
ED PROPST
Dandan, Saipan
