SAIPAN — Rep. Marissa R. Flores will introduce a resolution calling on Congress to protect the Commonwealth’s ownership, decision-making power and economic interests in offshore mineral resources before commercial leasing moves forward in waters surrounding the Northern Mariana Islands, her office announced Tuesday.
House Joint Resolution 24-17 lands the same day the federal government’s Proposed Leasing Notice for a potential critical minerals lease sale off the CNMI publishes in the Federal Register, and as federal regulators weigh commercial mineral leasing across more than 69 million acres of ocean adjacent to the Commonwealth.
“This is not a proposal to mine our ocean,” Flores said. “It is about establishing the Commonwealth’s rights before decisions are made about resources surrounding our islands. If these resources are ever developed, our people must have a meaningful say and receive a fair share of the benefits.”
The resolution asks Congress to recognize additional Commonwealth interests in submerged lands and offshore mineral resources, require CNMI concurrence before any federal mineral leasing, ensure the Commonwealth benefits economically from development, require environmental studies and monitoring, and protect culturally significant areas through consultation with Chamorro and Carolinian (Refaluwasch) communities, according to the release.
Flores’ office said the measure builds on federal legislation that already conveyed most submerged lands extending three geographical miles from CNMI coastlines to the Commonwealth, and on a fight that stretches back decades. During the 1987 Section 902 consultations, CNMI representatives proposed federal legislation conveying submerged lands and marine-resource interests to the Commonwealth. Congress later enacted Public Law 113-34, which conveyed the three-mile submerged lands.
The resolution also supports creation of a CNMI Mineral Resources and Indigenous Legacy Trust Fund modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which the release said would preserve and invest mineral revenues for future generations rather than allowing a finite natural resource to become a temporary source of government spending.
“Our ocean resources, if they are ever developed, should create lasting benefits for the people of the Commonwealth,” Flores said. “The time to protect those rights is before the resources are leased, not afterward.”
The Marine Minerals Administration, the newly consolidated federal agency that absorbed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last month, said Monday that publication of the Proposed Leasing Notice does not guarantee a sale will be held, and that a Final Leasing Notice would publish at least 30 days before any sale date.
