In an interview yesterday, he disclosed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already sent them the final biological opinion giving them the go-signal to proceed with the Route 36 East coast highway project in Marpi, which was funded in 2005.
In Jan. 2005, scoping was conducted for the proposed 3.5-mile Route 36 Winward/Chalan Kalabera that starts from Kingfisher Golf Links and ends on Bird Island.
Months later, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services turned in a draft biological opinion requesting the CNMI to address potential impacts on 16 territories of the male nightingale reed warbler, an endangered species.
Songsong explained that whenever the CNMI encounters issues regarding federal environmental requirements, the granting federal agency — in this case the Federal Highway Administration — is required to consult with U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
The delay in the project has alarmed Congressman Gregorio C. Sablan.
To minimize the impact on the reed warbler, the Federal Highway Administration proposed mitigation measures that included the preservation of a 50-foot buffer of tangan-tangan where about 10 hectares of San Juan farm plots are located.
This 50-foot buffer requires the Department of Lands and Natural Resources to re-designate the San Juan farm plots as a wildlife conservation area.
This measure, according to the CNMI government, “would satisfy [U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s] primary concern and could satisfy some of the CNMI’s endangered species mitigation needs associated with future development.”
Last year, the Department of Public Lands and DLNR signed an agreement transferring all the rights over San Juan farm exclusively for the use of a wildlife habitat.
But it was only last April that DPW received the notice of final biological opinion from the Federal Highway Administration, and this paved the way for the department to formally develop the scope of work for the design of Route 36, Songsong said.
During these past four years, he said there were consultations between the two federal agencies which resulted in more recommendations and more concerns raised — and even disagreements.
