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UNITED NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDERS ASSOCIATION P.O. Box 502914 Saipan, MP 96950
April 15, 2004
MPLA Board of Directors Attention: Mrs. Ana Demapan-Castro Saipan, MP 96950 Dear Chairperson Demapan-Castro and MPLA Board Members: The MPLA Board’s decision to hold its meeting on Tinian today, April 15, 2004, to discuss commercial mining interests on Pagan is outrageously irresponsible! Many of us are wondering, why Tinian? Just how many former residents of Pagan and the other Northern Islands actually live on Tinian that you know of? It’s a good thing that this meeting is being brought to Don Farrell’s, aka Azmar International’s, doorsteps, but Don Farrell does NOT speak for ANY of us! Chairwoman Demapan-Castro, in the past, I have personally conveyed to you the Northern Island people’s request that no mining activities be approved or even entertained without the full involvement of the Mayor of the Northern Islands and the people of the Northern Islands. Last year, I wrote to the MPLA Board and to Mr. Henry Hofschneider to request copies of documents that Azmar International or any other applicant may have filed with MPLA to apply for a mining permit on Pagan. We also requested that this Board not approve any commercial mining permits without the full participation of the Mayor of the Northern Islands and the Northern Islands community. We remind this Board that Mayor Taisakan wrote to Governor Babauta last October urging him to terminate J.G. Sablan’s mining permit on Pagan. Mayor Taisakan also stated that he was withdrawal his conditional support of Azmar’s application to mine the pozzolan on Pagan. MPLA was carbon copied on that letter. Please reread this letter. To the Board members from Tinian and Rota--for so long, the people of the Northern Islands have struggled to have their voices heard. Why would YOU want to participate in bringing more suffering to your Chamorro and Refalawasch brothers and sisters from the Northern Islands? What wrong have we EVER done to you? Hafa Adai, Taotao Tano? Where is the spirit of brotherhood and humanity? How would you feel if you and your people were forced from your homes by a natural disaster? How would you feel if you and your people begged to return home, but were told year after year that you don’t belong there anymore? How would you feel about being treated like second-class citizens by your own government officials? You have already heard by teleconference and by e-mail from our colleague, Pete Perez, and we add our collective voices to his. Do NOT approve any mining activities on Pagan for Azmar or any other firm until all options have been thoroughly explored and an environmental impact study has been conducted. We urge you to be sympathetic to the needs of our people. At the very least, we expect each and every one of you to uphold your fiduciary responsibilities as MPLA Board members representing ALL the people of this great Commonwealth! Sincerely,
Cinta Matagolai Kaipat cc: Hon. Governor Juan N. Babauta Hon. Lt. Governor Diego T. Benavente UNMIA Members Hon. Mayor Valentin Taisakan 14th Commonwealth Legislature Department of Lands and Natural Resources Department of Environmental Quality United States Environmental Protection Agency Historic Preservation Office Office of the Public Auditor Carolinian Affairs Office Refaluwasch Foundation, Inc. People of the Commonwealth Media |