Friends of Marpi volunteers former Rep. Tina Sablan and Glenn Hunter have brought to the attention of Charlene Dwin Vaughn, assistant director of the council’s office of federal agency programs, the installation of over 30 power poles in Marpi and asked whether this complies with the National Historic Preservation Act’s Section 106.
Sablan and Hunter noted that federal law requires public consultation which, they added, was never conducted prior to the implementation of the $2.9 million Marpi cemetery project.
In an April 21 letter, Vaughn relayed to OIA Director Nikolao Pula the inquiries of Sablan, who is also the vice president of the Marianas Resource Conservation & Development Council, and Hunter, a founding member of Friends of Marpi.
Vaughn asked Pula to provide her all the documentation and a summary of the steps taken by OIA and the CNMI government in ensuring that the project complies with federal law.
She said her office is “particularly interested in how consulting parties were identified and involved in the review process.”
The council, in addition, wants to know how Interior involved members of the public and addressed any comments from them.
In her letter to Vaughn, Sablan said no public hearings and meetings were conducted prior to the installation of the power poles and “widespread public outcry has ensued” when the people saw the power poles lining up the main road all the way to the proposed Marpi public cemetery.
In an interview on Friday, Sablan said: “Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is a powerful tool that requires federal agencies, as well as local governments if they are recipients of federal grants, to consider the effects of their projects on places of historical significance and to afford stakeholders ample opportunity to review and comment on these projects.”
Friends of Marpi, she added, wrote to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to “request their guidance and advice as to whether Section 106 review had been properly conducted for the federally funded Marpi power pole project.”
Sablan said they’re hoping to gain “some insight from the ACHP as to what recourse is available under applicable federal law or regulations for concerned citizens who wish to ensure that historic values are duly considered for any federal undertaking that occurs in a place as important as Marpi is to both our local and national heritage.”
She added, “We appreciate the ACHP’s prompt response to our inquiry, and expect to gain additional information and insight as their investigation unfolds. We also continue to ask our local government, including the CIP Office, to finally begin holding public hearings on the project, listening to the concerns of the community, and considering more sustainable and compatible alternatives to power poles in the Marpi area.”
On April 15, Judge Kenneth L. Govendo issued a temporary restraining order to stop the CNMI government from erecting more power poles in the historic area. The next hearing will be held on April 29.
According to Sablan, “Litigation is being pursued now only as a last resort, and it is definitely not too late for the government to change course and to finally respond honestly and in good faith to public inquiries and appeals.”
