[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 21 (Thursday, February 10, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     CONVEYANCE OF SUBMERGED LANDS TO THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

                                 ______
                                 

                  HON. GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN

                    of the northern mariana islands

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2011

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H.R. 670, a bill that 
will give back to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands three 
miles of submerged lands surrounding our islands.
  Exactly two years ago, I introduced the same bill, which was H.R. 
934. The bill was lauded by the leaders of the Commonwealth Government 
and the Legislature. The bill received wide support from both sides of 
the aisle and in fact was unanimously passed by the House on July 15, 
2009. The bill was also approved by the Senate Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee in May 2010. The bill was made part of Senate 
Majority Leader Reid's The America's Great Outdoors Act of 2010, which 
was introduced in the closing days of the 111th Congress. However, the 
Senate did not act on Senator Reid's omnibus lands bill because of many 
competing priorities.
  But allow me to explain why this bill is crucial to the people of the 
Northern Mariana Islands and why it has received such wide support. The 
Northern Mariana Islands is the only U.S. jurisdiction that does not 
have ownership of the submerged lands three miles off its shores. We 
have been a Commonwealth under a permanent Covenant with the United 
States since 1976. For thousands of years, the Chamorro and 
Refaluuwasch people farmed the land and fished the seas. However on 
February 25, 2005 the people of the Mariana Islands were shocked to 
discover that the waters and the submerged lands below them did not 
belong to them. But that they were the property of the United States of 
America, as concluded by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the 
same breath, the Court recognized the integral connection between the 
land, water and my people. The Court pointed out that Congress can 
return these lands back to the people of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
H.R. 670 does exactly that.
  I want to thank all those Members who are original cosponsors of this 
bill and I ask that my colleagues support H.R. 670.

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