On Revised DEIS: ‘We're much better place than we were 10 years ago’

6/30/2025—The weeklong series of public meetings for the Revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed CNMI Joint Military Training wrapped up on Rota last June 27. 

It concluded with no less than Marine Corps Forces Pacific executive director Mark Hashimoto expressing gratitude to all of those who attended and commented on planned military activities on Tinian, which proposes a significant decrease from 14 military ranges to two.

Hashimoto and a smaller band of subject-matter experts on the Revised DEIS sauntered down to the Rota Mayor’s Office in Tatachok last Friday and presented their storyboards and gamely answered questions from local community members of the CNMI’s southernmost island.

The retired U.S. Marine major general said while Rota isn’t part of the Revised DEIS—as the U.S. Department of Defense’s proposed action is limited to the military lease area on Tinian—he nonetheless believes the people of Rota’s voices needed to be heard. 

“We think that just like the other two nights that we want to make sure that they understand our proposed action as well as have the opportunity to submit comments to make our Draft Environmental Impact Statement better as we take it to a final,” he said.

Prior to flying to Rota, Hashimoto and company also held public meetings on Tinian (June 23 and 24) and Saipan (June 25 and 26), where attendees were afforded the chance to submit comments either written or oral. The latter through a stenographer via zoom. Comments can also be submitted directly onto the Revised DEIS website (https://www.cnmijointmilitarytrainingeis.com/), email, and the more traditional snail mail. 

All and all, Hashimoto considers it a “great privilege” that they were able to conduct the five-day public meetings on Tinian, Saipan, and Rota, adding that they learned a lot and enjoyed all the public meetings.

“We hope that they had a good opportunity to interact with all of our subject-matter experts. And as we said on night one, it's about gratitude and respect. Gratitude for getting the community [and] elected leaders being able to get us to this place. We're [in a] much better place than we were 10 years ago and it's only gotten better over the last five. The respect that we have for the community and the culture, which again always reminded us about how everything is interconnected and that has really helped us in terms of getting us to a training concept that can work for everybody and can protect the land for future generations,” he said. 

In 2015, the original DEIS received a lot of push back from the CNMI community and ultimately was shelved by the DoD, which resulted in a second go-around, the Draft DEIS.

Rota Mayor Aubry Hocog is glad that some island residents took time off from their busy schedule to attend the public meeting, which started at 3pm compared to 5pm on Tinian and Rota, and even though the Revised DEIS deals more about the neighboring island of Tinian.

She added that the storyboard format seems to be effective as the public appeared more comfortable asking questions one-on-one compared to an actual presentation.

“I think the picture boards are great and also the information [they gave out]. That way people are more comfortable to ask questions or inquire more information.”

As for her concerns on the proposal on military activities on Tinian, Hocog said she always worries about invasive species coming in from Guam.

“It’s very important to protect our natural environment and there was a story where there were containers that were shipped to Tinian and when they inspected, they found some invasive species and of course, that's a very big concern. The hard-working men and women of Tinian [thankfully] were able to find and closed the containers and sent them back.”

Hocog was also asked about the proposed U.S. Air Force lease for storage space at the Benjamin Taisacan Manglona International Airport and she said it’s a great opportunity for the island to improve its airport facilities.

“Having that lease property from the Commonwealth Ports Authority into or with the Air Force, you know, that's an opportunity for CPA to gain some funds to help upgrade the airport facility, so long as the plans just stay at the airport,” she said.

Sen. Donald Manglona, who like Hocog also attended the public meeting, appreciated DoD for coming to Rota and providing the people of Rota a chance to learn more about some of the activities that are going on in Tinian and how it may or may not have a direct impact on the island.

“I think it's great that they give our people more visuals. It kind of lays out some of the foundation as to what are the different impacts that are happening on Tinian such as the cultural resources the utilities and, you know, how it affects the different areas of our environment. They did a good job in laying out a lot of these storyboards so that people can walk through each one and read the history behind it and what are some of the plans moving forward.”

Rota-based biologist Sara Manzelli admitted she was a bit surprised about the setup that used storyboards to get the DoD’s message across. However, she was appreciative that they were able to walk around to each of the different storyboards and components and talk to the subject-matter experts, especially due to the voluminous nature of the Revised DEIS.

“I think that it's a lot of information and the documents are quite hefty that within each presenter, it's kind of a lot of information overload at you, especially come like me personally. I haven't done much research before this and I'm not very informed. I think that coming here as your first experience can be kind of overwhelming to have the information overload and then having to unpack that and do the research because a lot of the information is focused on Tinian, but we know that the joint training plan may also affect Saipan and Rota. So yeah, there’s a lot of information to go through.”

Marianas Agupa Talk Show’s Severina Atalig said she’s just happy to be back on Rota and being involved in the Revised DEIS process. 

“I appreciate that while projects may not be on Rota, I truly feel that we are entitled to know what is going on in our CNMI so that we can avail of this information and whether or not prepare ourself if anything should happen to get benefit or to alert ourselves. I really thank the [DoD] is out here to address these issues regarding military issues in the CNMI with the people of Rota and getting some feedback [and] input to them,” she said.

Comments on the Revised DEIS will be accepted until Aug. 20 and will be followed by the publication of a final draft. After a certain period of time, the whole process culminates with a record of decision, which Hashimoto said is scheduled to come out on May 2026.

Report by Mark Rabago and Thomas Manglona II