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Tenorio Meets with Appropriator
(Washington, DC) July 16, 2008. Friday, July 11, 2008, CNMI Resident
Representative Pedro A. Tenorio met with Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
professional staff member Chris Topik regarding the ongoing need for increased
funding for CNMI infrastructure especially power generation. Also present
was Chairman Ralph Torres of the HEW Committee of the CNMI House of
Representatives.
“I regularly meet with Mr. Topik, and took this opportunity to not only
introduce Chairman Torres to him, but also to bring him up to date on CIP issues
in the CNMI. He has been very helpful getting the CNMI additional funding
in the past. It is important that he understands our needs,” explained
Tenorio.
Topik was briefed about the status of Saipan’s power plants and the need to
replace and upgrade them. “Chris agreed with me that alternative energy
sources are only a supplement to basic power generation and right now, we don’t
even have basic power generation to meet the needs of the people, business,
government let alone economic growth,” reflected Tenorio. “The lack of
affordable electricity is rapidly ruining our economy and is seriously degrading
our way of life more than any other factor. What investor would want to
come to our islands with very expensive, unreliable power?”
“We must work together to improve our power generation and power distribution
problems. This to me should be our government’s priority,” continued
Tenorio.
Also included in Tenorio’s package of information was the $20 million Northern
Mariana College needs for a new campus, the $6 million the Public School System
needs to renovate and repair many of their schools, and the $18 million needed
by the Commonwealth Health Center to bring its facility up to national
standards. “I also pointed out that we still need more than $400 million
for our water and wastewater systems,” added Tenorio.
“The unspent balance, which is still over $50 million, has derailed my efforts
in the past from get additional CIP funding. I was prepared with
statistics on the Governor’s reprogramming efforts, EPA mandated projects, and
projects for Rota and Tinian. Unfortunately, some projects are just not
moving which raises concerns about our need for new money. I hope to work
with the Governor and Legislature to address problems with our CIP. There
needs to be a lot more cooperation if any of our CIP problems are going to be
resolved. I am glad that Chairman Torres was able to hear first hand that
Congress is willing to help us, but we have to be responsible and accountable,”
concluded Tenorio.
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