DLNR Secretary Ignacio Dela Cruz said complete report had not been furnished to his office as of yesterday.
He said his department is on target in completing the work, but he was not able to give a timeframe regarding the expected completion of the mitigation plan.
Last January, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs informed the CNMI government that it cannot issue an authorization to proceed for the ILS project until a completed mitigation plan for the airport is submitted as required by the National Environmental Protection Act.
“We’re doing everything and we are on target,” Dela Cruz said, but added that he was not very familiar with the brown tree snake mitigation plan being conducted on Tinian.
He referred this reporter to the Division of Fish and Wildlife staff members assigned to work on the project, but Variety was told that one of the individuals was off-island at press time.
The person working on the project was not in his office and did not return this reporter’s call.
Dela Cruz said he will personally follow-up the status of the mitigation plan to ensure that the “department is not becoming part of the problem…but a solution.”
The ILS project has been delayed since 2006.
“We understand the importance and urgency of this project to Tinian and DLNR will do its best to expedite all the work needed so that we can start the project,” Dela Cruz said.
Sen. Henry San Nicolas, Covenant-Tinian, said he is disappointed that the mitigation plan has not been completed yet.
He said six months is not a short period.
“This is disappointing because we’re counting on the capability of (DLNR’s fish and wildlife division) to do all the needed work for this important project,” San Nicolas said.
The senator said he will ask the chairman of Tinian’s legislative delegation, Covenant Sen. Joseph Mendiola, to set up a meeting with DLNR and other concerned agencies that will help address the issue.
“The ILS project is a priority undertaking for Tinian — we’re hoping we can immediately resolve anything that is delaying this project,” he said.
San Nicolas said almost everything is ready for the project including the $5.3 million in federal funding.
The ILS is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument meteorological conditions, such as low ceilings or reduced visibility due to fog, rain, or blowing snow.
