GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres said his administration will look into the creation of a civilian-military advisory council for Tinian in light of the construction of a U.S. Air Force divert airfield there.
Ralph DLG Torres
In an interview on Friday, the governor said, “We are going to go back and revisit the council and talk about priorities.”
The proposal to create an advisory council for Tinian was brought up by the island’s leadership in the past administration.
In October 2017, then-Mayor Joey Patrick San Nicolas asked then-Gov. Eloy S. Inos to invoke the provision in Part 3 of the Technical Agreement to the Covenant that provides for the creation of a civilian-military advisory council for Tinian.
San Nicolas told Inos that a properly formulated advisory council could help resolve NMI’s outstanding issues with the Department of Defense.
These issues included public rights of way usage; repair and maintenance of roads and historic areas; resolving civilian and military solid waste disposal issues; resolving future wastewater issues to protect the aquifer; sustainable water production by planning future groundwater extraction plans and protection of the aquifer by all users; joint use and repair of transportation systems, be it the harbor, the roads, or the airport and protection of our coral reefs and other natural resources.
Disappointed
The governor also said that he was disappointed with the decision to delay the construction of the divert airfield until 2022, but at the same time, he understands the challenges the U.S. military is going though.
“I just want to make sure that the priorities haven’t changed,” he added.
As far he knows, the governor said, the construction of the divert facility remains a priority despite the delay.
While the CNMI is on “downtime” amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the governor said he hopes that the U.S. military will continue to move forward and expedite the project.
