GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios has signed into law Senate Local Bill 23-2 to allow certain projects and activities at Sabana Heights, Talakhaya and I Chenchon Park on Rota.
Authored by Sen. Paul A. Manglona, S.L.B. 23-2 is now Rota Local Law 23-7. It amends R.L.L. 9-1, which established the sites as wildlife conservation areas, and prohibits any activities, including recreational, commercial and agricultural, deemed detrimental to the aquifer, wildlife and vegetation.
The new local law allows the following projects:
1) The installation of the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services’ repeater system;
2) The Department of Public Safety’s Rota Shooting Range expansion and improvement;
3) The Mayor of Rota Freedom Is Nature 360 Trail and Overlook;
4) Coffee farming; and,
5) Organic farming.
R.L.L. 23-7 requires the Department of Lands and Natural Resources secretary and the Division of Fish and Wildlife resident director to develop plans and procedures to reasonably minimize the impacts of these activities on plants, wildlife, soil, rocks, landscape and the aquifer.
In his transmittal letter, the governor said he has three concerns regarding the measure.
First, he said, the DFEMS emergency repeater system is not an exclusive Rota municipal project as it has CNMI-wide impact. “A Commonwealth law allowing the project would supersede the installation of the system within the locally created conservation area,” Palacios said.
Second, “In addition to DLNR’s authority to develop mitigating plans that would allow [the] developments [mentioned in the bill], there are Commonwealth-wide laws and regulations that may further restrict project activities,” the governor added.
Third, he said, “The coffee and organic farming projects are not described in sufficient detail, which may create disputes over their size and scope.”
A similar local bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres in 2021, citing the attorney general’s advice regarding the constitutional issues that would arise if the measure was enacted.
Paul A. Manglona
