SAIPAN — U.S. Representative Kimberlyn King-Hinds said Tuesday that her office is engaged with the Department of the Interior’s Energy Dominance Council on long-term power generation options for the CNMI, with conversations focused on what kind of system would work for islands dependent on imported fuel, in an interview on Good Morning Marianas.
The Energy Dominance Council is chaired by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. King-Hinds said the office is looking to bring in subject matter experts on power generation suited to a small island community, rather than continuing to repeat the same conversations without new analysis.
“We need to bring in folks who have expertise in this,” King-Hinds said. “We keep talking about this over and over and over again, and we can’t see something different and we keep continuing doing the same thing.”
She said she had not yet personally formed an opinion on technologies including the small modular nuclear reactors that have drawn attention in conversations on Guam, but said the kind of system the CNMI ultimately adopts will need to factor in fuel supply chains, grid distribution and operating costs.
King-Hinds said she had toured the Tinian power plant before Super Typhoon Sinlaku and returned after the storm to assess the damage. She described the post-storm condition of the plant as severe, with panels ripped off one side, generators soaked and the control room left in disarray. She said the experience reinforced her view that the CNMI’s power infrastructure needs hardened control facilities.
The congresswoman praised the engineers at the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, saying she had watched them keep aging generators running through improvised repairs and parts they had effectively made themselves because original components are no longer available or cost-prohibitive to import.
King-Hinds also said she had toured the Tinian harbor and viewed damage to the marina, including deterioration of the seawall from wave action during the storm. She said the damage adds urgency to the case she has been making to federal partners, including the Department of War, for accelerated rehabilitation of the Tinian port. She said the case has gained traction as federal officials have observed how weather impacts the ability to bring in fuel and supplies.
The congresswoman cautioned residents that federal disaster assistance is not as automatic or comprehensive as some have come to expect.
“This is not like California where you, it’s a large economy where the local government can cover down some of that cost of reimbursement,” King-Hinds said. “That’s not the situation here.”
She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency operates on a reimbursement model, requiring local government to spend first and recoup later, and that reimbursement does not extend automatically to all categories of damage. She said her office is tracking a 90-day window for federal assistance requests and would support an extension request from the local government if needed.
King-Hinds said her job in a disaster response is to stay in her lane, with damage assessments handled by subject matter experts on the ground, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The territory and the local government make formal asks based on those assessments, and the delegate’s role is to push for legislation and appropriations to support them, she said.
She sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has oversight of FEMA.
The congresswoman said she has been pushing for the CNMI to settle on its infrastructure priorities and stick to them across administrations, citing GAO reports she has been tracking that note priorities tend to shift when new administrations take office, leaving projects unfinished.
“What I’m hoping to see is that we come together as a community and decide on a direction and stick to it in terms of some of these infrastructure conversations,” she said.
King-Hinds also voiced concern about the broader economic picture facing the local government as recovery moves forward, saying a 20-hour government work week is unsustainable when local government workers form a significant share of the tax base.
The congresswoman returned from Washington last Monday and said she has spent the week conducting assessments and meeting with relief partners and local leaders. She said she returns to Washington on Friday.
She praised relief organizations operating in the islands, including Team Rubicon, Samaritan’s Purse, World Central Kitchen and the American Red Cross, saying many had been hiring local staff and sourcing supplies locally to keep recovery dollars circulating in the community.
She also acknowledged the personal cost of recovery work, saying her 80-year-old mother on Tinian had been without power and that she had not been able to stay home to support her during the visit.
“Putting on hold being a daughter, putting on hold being a wife, this is what we do,” King-Hinds said. “Everybody in this community has a role to play in terms of how we rebuild.”