The CNMI leaders said after the bill is enacted into law, the people of the commonwealth will have the option to exercise full control over the submerged lands surrounding the three northernmost islands of Maug, Asuncion and Uracas which form part of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, or decide to include those within the monument under a co-management system with the federal government.
Sablan, who authored H.R. 934 along with 27 other U.S. lawmakers, withdrew the bill early this month after CNMI leaders failed to reach a consensus regarding the measure.
Although passing legislation conveying submerged lands to the people of the CNMI remains his goal, Sablan said he needs a collective stand of local leaders on the issue.
The CNMI government lost its legal battle to gain control over its 200-mile exclusive economic zone or submerged lands in 2005 after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the lower court’s ruling that the commonwealth lost its right to its submerged lands when it became a commonwealth of the United States in 1976.
Senate President Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, said the Legislature and the administration have finally reached an agreement to support H.R. 934.
He said there was just some misunderstanding about the mandates of the legislation.
Fitial, Reyes and Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, jointly signed yesterday a letter sent to Sablan expressing their stand on the submerged lands bill.
“We urge you to push for the passage of this legislation in order to give the CNMI control over the first three miles of its submerged lands,” their letter to Sablan reads.
They said their support in the legislation comes with the understanding that it would convey the same ownership rights regarding submerged lands on Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
“This would include the submerged lands around the northernmost islands in the commonwealth, which constitute the ‘Islands Unit’ in the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument established by Presidential Proclamation on Jan. 6, 2009,” they said.
“After this bill is enacted into law, the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands will have the option of exercising full control over the submerged lands surrounding these three islands or deciding or include those submerged lands within the Monument under co-management with the responsible federal agencies,” they added.
The local leaders said this option is embodied in the proclamation that created the marine monument.
H.R. 934, they noted, also states that “it does not amend, repeal, or otherwise alter the proclamation.”
