“They’re going to have the visitor center in Guam over my dead body,” he said during his presentation at the Rotary Club of Saipan yesterday.
In a brief interview after his townhall meeting at Northern Marianas College last night, Sablan said Guam should understand that it was the CNMI’s submerged waters and the marine resources around them, including undersea volcanoes, that were declared as marine sanctuary.
“They shouldn’t take it away from the CNMI. It shouldn’t go to Guam,” he said.
Sablan said he is already in touch with key organizations that can help promote the Marianas Trench such as the National Geographic and the U.S. Navy.
According to the congressman, the CNMI was provided $220,000 to “develop a process” for consulting the public regarding the visitor center.
He said the CNMI Department of Land and Natural Resources, without consulting the public, designated a building on Navy Hill as the site for a visitor center.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to put up the Marianas Trench research and visitor center up on a hill and far away from the ocean,” Sablan said.
He said a public hearing should be conducted to hear the member of the community.
“I recommend a public hearing and not just the decision of one government official,” Sablan told reporters after the Rotary Club meeting.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Sablan introduced H.R. 3511, which calls for a monument visitors center to be built in the CNMI.
Sablan is scheduled to hold another townhall meeting tonight at the multi-purpose center.
