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Environmental considerations to be addressed

By Stefan Sebastian

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, July 31, 2008) – Alternative energy and green building practices were some of the issues on the agenda Wednesday in the second round of talks this week with local officials and the Joint Guam Program Office as they begin evaluating the environmental impact of a pending military buildup in the region.

Established by the Department of Defense to address military plans on Guam, the JGPO is now gearing up for the relocation of an estimated 8,000 U.S. service personnel and their 9,000 family members from Okinawa, Japan, to the island. The move will require the construction of port infrastructure for naval ships and scores of new projects to support military operations and personnel, according to a JGPO report on the plan.

The pending buildup could give Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) a major economic boost, yet with that comes a host...

Panguna copper mine closed since 1989

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, July 31, 2008) – Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) has started evaluating the technical and financial requirements to re-develop the abandoned Panguna mine.

The order of magnitude study will assist BCL to work out how much will be needed to re-open the mine in the event that profitable mining is allowed to return to Panguna.

Company secretary Paul Coleman advised the Australian Stock Exchange this week that BCL had undertaken an order of magnitude study to re-develop the mine that was forced to close in 1989 following an uprising.

[PIR editor’s note: Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) is owned 53.58 percent by Rio Tinto Limited . The Papua New Guinea Government owns 19.06 percent, while public shareholders hold the remaining 27.36 percent of the share capital. Rio Tinto is heaquartered in London.]

The study is being managed by the Rio Tinto technology and...

Admitted stealing more than $3,000 from treasury

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, July 31, 2008) – The Supreme Court in Samoa has sentenced the former auditor of the Customs office in the Ministry of Revenue, Pepe Tevaga, to nine months in jail.

The former auditor and assistant CEO of the Customs finance service had pleaded guilty in June to one count of theft as a servant involving more than 3,000 US dollars of public funds.

15 other charges against her were withdrawn by the police after a plea bargain with the Attorney General.

In sentencing the accused, the Chief justice, Patu Falefatu Sapolu, says it’s a concern for the court that a person with such a high level of education who also held very senior positions in the government as a civil servant committed such a crime.

The Chief Justice says he has taken into account several mitigating factors such as her being a first offender and her assisting thepolice in another...

Seven-day voyage ends with tugboat escort

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands (Cook Islands News, July 26, 2008) – The vaka Te Au O Tonga docked in Pago Pago on Wednesday night, seven days after leaving Avatiu harbour in Rarotonga.

As Nick Henry reports, it was a big challenge coming in due to very big seas:

We dropped sails and came in under motor power. To get in we had seven of us steering! It was very tricky. Once we got through the main passage, two very big tug boats came out to meet us and we had one on each side and they completely lit up our vaka with their powerful lights. We continued in with them blasting their fog horns so everybody knew we had arrived. Many local paddlers came out in canoes, some with 16 in each canoe, they were yelling and cheering! With the strong cross wind, we had a bit of difficulty coming in, our first attempt was no good and we had to push off and try again.

The Governor, Togiola Tulafono, and the Takitumu dance team from...