Northern Marianas Delegate Welcomed to House Natural Resources Committee

Feb 4, 2009

 

PRESS RELEASE
February 4, 2009
 
Northern Marianas Delegate Welcomed
to House Natural Resources Committee
Kilili Gives Commonwealth Flag
a Permanent Place in Committee Chambers
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. House Natural Resources Committee began its first official meeting here today with a welcome to the Northern Mariana Islands.
Chairman Nick J. Rahall, II (D-WV) invited Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, the first Northern Marianas representative in Congress and a member of the Committee, to plant the Commonwealth flag behind the Chairman’s seat alongside the American flag and the flags of the other U.S. insular areas.
The Commonwealth anthem played softly in the ornate Walter B. Jones Hearing Room, as Kilili slid the staff into place and carefully unfurled the blue flag of the Commonwealth.
Rahall and the members of the Committee savored the historic moment that was the result of their work. The law creating Sablan’s delegate seat – P.L. 110-229 – began in the Natural Resources Committee. It’s the first time in 30 years a seat has been added in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 “It was a very meaningful event. I feel very so honored and humbled to raise the Commonwealth flag in the U.S. Congress,” Sablan said.
The flag stands as part of a group at the front of the room where the Committee meets. The flags are fanned against the wall with the American flag in the middle, and the flags of the U.S. territories—Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico—and now the Northern Marianas—arrayed on either side.
After the ceremony, Rahall led the Committee in approving its rules of procedure for the 111th Congress and its roster of staff. The Chairman also outlined the Committee’s agenda, which will center on environmentally sound domestic energy production, empowering the insular areas, anti-whaling efforts, and other initiatives that focus on protecting America’s natural landscape and indigenous people.
The Democratic Chairs and Republican Ranking Members of the Committee’s four Subcommittees were also announced.
Sablan joins the Insular Affair, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee chaired by Guam Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo. The Subcommittee has jurisdictions over matters affecting the islands as well as fisheries management and marine sanctuaries.
Sablan is also on the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. Californian Jim Costa is the Chairman. The Subcommittee oversees royalties collected from oil and mineral extraction on federal land. Last year it held an oversight hearing on new alternatives for energy production in the insular areas, an important issue for Sablan and the Marianas.
“The flag’s been planted and I have been welcomed to the Committee. Now we need to get our work done for the people of the Northern Marianas and the Nation,” said Sablan.