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Saipan public scoping meeting highlights challenged

By Clarissa David

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Feb. 27, 2012) - The location of a visitor's center, sanctioned military activities, and enforcement of regulations were among the major concerns raised by residents who attended the public scoping meeting for the draft management plan for the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument.

Some 50 individuals attended the meeting conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last Friday at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

"This is your island, you've lived here for generations, so we want to hear what you think should go on the management plan," said NOAA's Heidi Hirsh at the start the meeting. "We want to hear what opportunities you think the monument may contribute to science and exploration, education and outreach, traditional and recreational uses, and anything else you may have...

Deputy PM calls for 49-51% production sharing

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, Feb. 24, 2012) - The Mining Act will be reviewed to increase landowner participation in mining projects, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah said.

He was speaking at a meeting in parliament on Wednesday where Mining Department officials highlighted impediments the industry would face if the Boka Kondra Bill became law.

Namah and MPs called for increased landowner participation.

He said he would support the bill and called on proponents and critics of the bill to work together so that the final form was acceptable to all.

"A review of the Mining Act is long

overdue. Landowners should not be mere rent and royalty takers.

"They should be a major partner in the extraction of resources from their land.

"This can be achieved through the production sharing arrangement that is working well in many countries."

Namah urged Kondra to look at...

News Release

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, California

February 17, 2012

Researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and a team of American Indian scientists and engineers have partnered to study the possible use of Black Earth technology, or Cpryo, to help mitigate the uptake of radiocesium in locally grown foods in the Marshall Islands.

After World War II, the United States conducted 66 nuclear detonations between 1946 and 1958, on once-pristine inhabited atolls of Bikini and Enewetak in the northern Marshall Islands.

The detonations contaminated the islands with radioactive fallout. Long-lived radionuclides such as radiocesium remain at different levels in indigenous terrestrial plants that may be used as food.

To help reduce levels of radiation exposure and support ongoing efforts by Marshall Islanders to resettle their ancestral homelands, the contaminated coral soils need to be remediated as a best...

Delayed salaries, housing benefits prompts inquiry at CHC

By Moneth Deposa

SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune, Feb. 28, 2012) – The ongoing financial crisis at the Commonwealth Health Center and its fallout has caught the attention of federal labor authorities, prompting a visit to the hospital and interviews with its employees.

Saipan Tribune learned that federal investigator Dean Tenorio from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division made a surprise visit to the hospital on Friday and asked employees about issues surrounding the hospital.

Staffers, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, shared with Saipan Tribune that most of the questions focused on their delayed salaries and housing benefits, among other issues.

The U.S. Department of Labor in San Francisco confirmed yesterday the ongoing probe against the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., which operates the sole public hospital in the CNMI.

"Yes, we are able to confirm that...