Now that the land clearing operation has begun, members of community are voicing out their concerns.
Taotao Tano leader Greg Cruz said he is “dismayed” with the ongoing project.
In a letter to the EPA, he said he wants to know why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is “allowing the destruction of our natural scenic beauty in Marpi?”
Cruz said federal authorities Fish and Wildlife had reported to the EPA that there were four threatened species in area — the Marianas Fruit Bat, the Mariana Swiftlet, the Micronesia Megapode, and the Nightingale Reed-Wabler.
“Is the federal government now violating its own laws? Why was there no public hearing held concerning the [Marpi] cleanup project?” he asked.
Dean Higuchi of the EPA’s Region 9 office said he cannot answer Cruz’s questions, but will refer his letter to their Pacific Islands Regional Office.
On Dec. 6, 2006, in a media conference on Saipan, John McCaroll, manager of the EPA’s Pacific Islands Regional Office, handed DPL Secretary John Del Rosario a check for $550,000.
DPL said a survey of the Marpi village homestead site conducted in 2003 indicated that unexploded ordnance was scattered across the area.
Del Rosario said the assessment and cleanup of the area would allow the government to grant homestead lots to 500 local residents.
Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. then congratulated DPL and thanked the EPA for the grant award that would pave the way for the homestead project and “revenue-generating businesses.”
David Atalig, who was then with DPL’s finance division, said it was very important for the CNMI to get rid of unexploded ordnance prior to the construction of Marpi homestead project.
