Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero wants the federal government to consult Guam about offshore mineral lease sales involving the waters near Guam and the Northern Marianas.
On Sept. 15, Leon Guerrero wrote a letter to the Department of the Interior and officials with the Marine Minerals Administration asking the Trump administration to recognize Guam as an adjacent state to a potential deep-sea mining area.
She also wants Guam to be included in official Interior Department consultations that could lead to the sale of underwater mineral mining leases.
On Aug. 17, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a notice for a mineral lease sale near the Marianas. The notice, as well as a request for comment, was sent to Gov. David Apatang of the CNMI, but not to Leon Guerrero.
Leon Guerrero said that under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the proposed leasing notice shall be sent to the governors of any adjacent states 60 days prior to the publication of the final leasing notice.
The proposed lease area is situated 57 miles from Saipan and just 47 miles from Guam.
Leon Guerrero said preliminary leasing activities alone will impact Guam's air quality, ports and infrastructure, and commercial and subsistence fisheries, as well as ecosystems, habitats, and species in the waters surrounding Guam.
She said the Mariana Islands, comprising Guam and the CNMI, are an interconnected ecosystem, and activities that impact the surrounding waters will unavoidably impact both jurisdictions.
