Guam - As part of its efforts to inform the public about the U.S. Navy's proposed action and alternatives under consideration regarding military readiness training and testing activities conducted within the Mariana Islands training and testing study area, a handful of open house public meetings are taking place this week.

Several in the island community attended the public meeting at the University of Guam Tuesday night including Joseph Certeza, one of the organizers behind the "Our Islands Are Sacred Campaign" launched in response to the testing and training activities.  He said, "And we part of this campaign want to tell people we need to protect our islands and let these people know that these islands are sacred because right now within these documents we are reading they are doing currently today sonar testing, underwater explosive testing which in their own statements at the public hearing are going to cause lethal mortality rates to our dolphins, whales and turtle populations."

Other open house meetings are set for Saipan, Tinian and Rota this week. And even if you missed the public meeting on Guam, you can still review the Draft EIS/OEIS and submit your comments on http://www.mitt-eis.com until December 12. You can also read more on the "Our Islands Are Sacred" campaign on their Facebook page.