Military presents revised training plans for Tinian ahead of second draft EIS

It’s been ten years since the U.S. Marine Corps issued its notice of intent introducing its plans for a range and training area on Tinian and Pagan under the CNMI Joint Military Training project. Overwhelming community comments accompanied by lawsuits and government resistance triggered a renewed environmental review process in 2016.

Executive director of the U.S. Marine Forces Pacific Major General Mark Hashimoto told KUAM, "We listened to the voices of the people of the CNMI, and we think the information that we have will provide the public with a good understanding of what our proposed action is for enhanced training on Tinian and will allow them when the draft year is published about a year from now, that they will be able to have all of the information digested so that they can provide formal input to the environmental impact statement process in about a year." 

The changes are significant and are a result of grassroots community activism. 

Hashimoto said, "We reduced the number of live fire ranges from 14 down to two. We took away the amphibious landing beach, which would have caused significant requirements to mitigate possible damage to coral. Training on Pagan is no longer part of the proposed concept. There will be no air-to-ground delivered munitions."

He added, "There will be no what we refer to as dud-producing rounds. I think that was the cause of a lot of the concern where they were artillery and things like that. Things that explode that has been taken out of the concept. So I think those are most of the main changes. Although I would also like to add that we don't have the need for what is referred to as special use air space. And the significance of that is that Star Marianas will be able to operate in the same manner that it does today."

The military hosted a series of poster sessions and public meetings this month: two on Tinian, one on Rota, and two on Saipan this week. It’s a gesture they hope allows the community more time to digest the revised training concept on Tinian, where ? of the island is leased to the military.

Saipan resident Paul Guerrero attended the session on behalf of his company. He said, "I know they're pretty thorough on their explanations of what they've got planned for the next couple of years. But it's nice how they have like individual stations that you get to go and understand step by step what they're going to be doing." 

The community got to ask questions as a group after the poster session, where military experts stood by to answer individual questions. Residents who spoke up expressed concern about stressing local infrastructure, the introduction of invasive species, social impact, the frequency and magnitude of the training, and effects on the housing and rental market. 

Major General Hashimoto said, "There are still a lot of things that we have to figure out the answer to. Some of the things that have come up with consistency are biosecurity, solid waste, and the aquifer. So water use."

Military officials say that under the current plan, there will be no uniformed personnel based on Tinian. There will be three major exercises a year that would bring in a thousand people in each month they’re held. And there will be 7-8 smaller exercises in the year that last 1-2 weeks involving 100-150 people.

NEPA Program Manager from the U.S. Marine Corps HQ Lisa Graham explained, "We're coming out with a draft document that will look at impacts to the environment and impacts to the community. And then we'll have a series of public meetings and a public review process associated with that."

Saipan resident Herman Cabrera still has many questions after the public meeting. He told KUAM, "I'm concerned about the environment. I'm concerned about just the historical site and I am concern about the area, the water, the beach around. So those are the questions that we need to protect. I am not against the military and I am with the military, but we need to balance out the environment, the historical, and a lot of things that public doesn't know about the sound, how it affects the neighbor, and how it affects the people and the contamination of the soil, how it is going to affect the life of the people. Is it healthy? What about if they do some explosive bombs? Would that chemical spread in the ground and it will reach down to the aquifer? Those are the question. And do they measure that? Do they have any data in the future to measure those kinds of contamination in the soil? So those are my concern."

Those concerns come at a time the military is stiffening its posture in the Pacific. 

Hashimoto said, "The region is becoming more and more dangerous and we are in the business of keeping the peace. That is our primary job. That's what we do every day through deterrence. Should deterrence fail, we have to be ready to fight and win. And when I say fighting win, I mean the entire United States military, and the thing about the United States military, as I like to point out when it comes to the CNMI, which is of course part of the US homeland, and that's our number one priority, is to defend the homeland is the number of service members from the CNMI."

He said, "As I like to say, you are us and us is you. So, so many of the men and women from the CNM I serve in our armed forces. And one of the things that we need is to be able to do realistic training. And that's what the CNMI joint military training concept will provide our service members."

The military says it will provide regular updates at www.cnmijointmilitarytrainingeis.com