[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 21, 2014)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 3479-3480]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-01261]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 79 , No. 13 / Tuesday, January 21, 2014 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 3479]]


                Proclamation 9077 of January 15, 2014

                
Reserving Certain Submerged Lands in the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The submerged lands surrounding the islands of Farallon 
                de Pajaros (Uracas), Maug, and Asuncion in the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are among 
                the most biologically diverse in the Western Pacific, 
                with relatively pristine coral reef ecosystems that 
                have been proclaimed objects of scientific interest and 
                reserved for their protection as the Islands Unit of 
                the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument (marine 
                national monument) by Proclamation 8335 of January 6, 
                2009. Certain submerged lands adjacent to the land 
                leased by the United States of America on the islands 
                of Tinian and Farallon de Medinilla under the Lease 
                Agreement Made Pursuant to the Covenant to Establish a 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 
                Political Union with the United States of America, 
                dated January 6, 1983, as amended (Lease) are essential 
                for ensuring that United States forces forward deployed 
                to the Western Pacific are adequately trained and ready 
                to respond immediately and effectively to orders from 
                the National Command Authority, and for ensuring the 
                safety of citizens of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
                Mariana Islands.

                Certain of these submerged lands will be conveyed by 
                the United States to the Government of the Commonwealth 
                of the Northern Mariana Islands on January 16, 2014, 
                pursuant to section 1(a) of Public Law 93-435, as 
                amended by section 1 of Public Law 113-34 (the 
                ``Act''), unless the President designates otherwise 
                pursuant to section 1(b)(vii) of the Act.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of authority vested 
                in me by section 1(b)(vii) of the Act, do hereby 
                proclaim that the lands hereinafter described are 
                excepted from transfer to the Government of the 
                Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands under 
                section 1(a) of the Act:

the submerged lands adjacent to the islands of Farallon de Pajaros 
(Uracas), Maug, and Asuncion permanently covered by tidal waters up to the 
mean low water line and extending three geographical miles seaward from the 
mean high tide line; and

the submerged lands adjacent to the islands of Tinian and Farallon de 
Medinilla permanently or periodically covered by tidal waters up to the 
line of mean high tide and extending seaward to a line three geographical 
miles distant from those areas of the coastline that are adjacent to the 
leased lands described in the Lease.

                Nothing in this proclamation is intended to affect the 
                authority of the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) 
                under section 1(b) of the Act to subsequently convey 
                the submerged lands adjacent to the islands of Farallon 
                de Pajaros (Uracas), Maug, and Asuncion when the 
                Secretary, the Secretary of Commerce, and the 
                Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
                Islands have entered into an agreement for coordination 
                of management that ensures the protection of the marine 
                national monument within the excepted area described 
                above. Furthermore, nothing in this proclamation is 
                intended to affect the authority of the Secretary under 
                section 1(b) of the Act to subsequently convey the 
                submerged lands adjacent to the land

[[Page 3480]]

                leased by the United States on the islands of Tinian or 
                Farallon de Medinilla when the Secretary of the Navy 
                and the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern 
                Mariana Islands have entered into an agreement that 
                ensures protection of military training within the 
                excepted area.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
                eighth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2014-01261
Filed 1-17-14; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F4