by Michele Catahay

Guam - Republican senator Frank Blas, Jr. has sent a letter to the Attorney General's Office, requesting that it provide an opinion on the legality of a provision contained in federal law that allows the secretary of defense to have a 33% voting share on the Consolidated Commission on Utilities as a condition for selling Navy water and wastewater assets at fair market value to Guam.

He questions whether setting such precedence would allow the feds to further mandate seats on other boards. The senator said, "With regard's to Congress' mandate that it be contingent on the sale of the water assets from the Navy, that the Secretary of the Defense have a substantial voting block in the CCU, what of the other boards that we have? It's Congress or the Department of Defense insist that they be part of the board that governs the port?"