22 Apr 2013

CNMI representative hopes for middle ground on US military plans

10:57 am on 22 April 2013

A member of the Northern Marianas House of Representatives says he's hopeful of some sort of compromise on US military plans to relocate residents of Pagan during the months when the it is using the island for training purposes.

The military is looking to lease most of Pagan as part of its plans to establish live fire training facilities in the CNMI, parallel to the impending troop build-up in Guam.

The plan would also involve the use of land on Tinian.

Representative Edmund Villagomez says the military is currently conducting discussions with local communities to prepare them for their plans.

"Even though they are still in the scoping stages there are residents that have expressed their opposition. Like I said, hopefully we can come into a middle ground, because there's also a benefit with having the military be in the area. Economic development is one of them, I mean one of the difficulties we have with Pagan is transportation."