Hearing scheduled for Kilili’s visitor center bill

Saipan, MP – The House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife announced today a hearing on H.R. 3511, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument Management Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill provides for Monument visitor facilities to be located in the Northern Mariana Islands and was introduced by Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan in July. A similar bill, H.R. 4493, introduced by Subcommittee Chair Madeleine Z. Bordallo this year is also on the agenda. The hearing will be on Thursday, February 25th, at 10:00 am, EST.

“I want to thank Chairwoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo for making time on her Subcommittee’s very busy agenda for these two bills,” said Congressman Sablan. “I appreciate her positive response to my requests for a hearing.”

“The many people in the Northern Mariana Islands who supported establishment of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument are very eager to see the promise of this Monument begin to be fulfilled. Establishing the visitor center in the NMI is an important first step towards realizing the potential benefits of the Monument.”

Kilili introduced H.R. 3511 on July 31, 2009. The bill has 37 co-sponsors. His bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to build a multipurpose visitor center in the NMI for interpretation, public education and enjoyment of the Monument. A hearing on the legislation was first scheduled in October, then cancelled by the Subcommittee. 

Chairwoman Bordallo introduced H.R. 4493 on January 25, 2010. Bordallo’s bill provides for Monument visitor and research services to be placed on Guam. Bordallo’s bill also gives the Government of Guam a role in the management of the Monument, equivalent to the management role of the CNMI provided in the Presidential Proclamation that created the Monument.

The 95,216 square mile Marianas Trench Marine National Monument is composed of three units. The Trench unit includes the seabed in which the Marianas Trench is located. The Volcanic Unit includes numerous undersea volcanoes and thermal vents. Neither of these units incorporates the waters above the ocean floor.

The Islands Unit encloses the CNMI islands of Farallon de Pajaros, Maug Islands, and Asuncion. The Islands Unit includes both the seabed and the ocean waters above. Only the three islands themselves, which belong to the Commonwealth, are not part of the Islands Unit of the Monument.

“I look forward to working with Chairwoman Bordallo to make sure that Congress does the right thing with respect to development and management of the Monument,” says Congressman Sablan.

“And I look forward to taking testimony from Governor Fitial, the Northern Marianas Legislature, Friends of the Monument, and other parties both in the Northern Marianas and nationally, who advocated for the Monument or helped negotiate with the White House the terms and conditions of the Presidential Proclamation, signed on January 6, 2009.”

The Subcommittee will webcast the hearing live from the House Natural Resources Committee website: https://resourcescommittee.house.gov.

Anyone interested can also watch the webcast live at the Saipan District office on February 26th, 2009, beginning at 1:00 am, Chamorro Standard Time. Please refer questions about the event to Congressman Sablan’s Saipan district office at (670)-323-2647/8.