October 7, 1996 Honorable Don Young Chairman Committee Natural Resources Dear Mr. Young, fill I am writing to express my profound disappointment with the work of an office under your oversight umbrella. On September 25th the interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs transmitted to you a copy of a report, "The Impact of the Compacts of Free Association on the United States Territories, Commonwealths and on the State of Hawaii." U.S.PL 99-239 mandates the Federal Government to document the Mr. Young, I have never felt so strongly the distance between Washington D.C. and Guam as I do now. On paper and as a total stranger to you! need to convince you that the Director of O.I.A., Al Stayman, has not done his job in documenting adverse financial impacts to my government These impacts are caused by a federal policy decision made over a decade ago, a policy that we had no voice in forming. If I were a private citizen I would beat around the bush for a page or two, but as a leader I trust that you, like me, appreciate frank talk. For the past 10 years the Goverment of Guam has been trying to get the Office of Territorial and Insular Affairs, (now re-named Office of Insular Affairs) to comply with the documentation of impact clauses in PL 90-239. During this period, thousands of Micronesians have moved to our island overloading our schools, health care, public housing and welfare programs. As you can see from the chronology of correspondence back and forth between Interior and the Goverment of Guarn (copy enclosed), we have received vague commitments and less than stellar follow through on those commitments. The end result is the report copied to you by Al Stayman which simply points out the obvious, that there has been adverse consequences to Guam. Stayman goes on to say in the final sentence of the report's introduction page that the job is too tough for his office to ever figure out! "However, Guam and O I.A. have not reached complete agreement on the methodology for estimating financial impact such agreement is not likely to be reached, given the complexity of the undertaking." I filed a lawsuit in District Court last year (copy enclosed) to require O.I.A to do its job and help us figure out how best to document the impact. Even with a lack of concrete approved upon guidelines from Interior, my government has done its best to docurrent the impacts. However, without fail, our figures are disputed by Interior and our case for implementing the financial reimbursement section of 99-239 is weakened. My fight is not a solitary one. The governments of Guam, the CNMI and the state of Hawali have joined me as co-plaintiffs in this suit. The next action in the case will occur later this month when the defendants must respond to our amended complaint. My purpose in writing is to give you an opportunity to hear first-hand that Guam is suffering under this U.S. policy of un-restricted migration. I also believe that the office responsible for helping us solve the problems resulting from this policy, O.I.A, is not doing its job. Guam has been more than a good soldier these past 98 years under the American flag. We recently endured the toughest military down-sizing cuts of any other American jurisdiction. We are currently playing host to the Kurds who were recently evacuated because of their pro-American support Mr. Young, I am willing to provide your office with more background information on this issue if needed. In closing, I want to tell you that I looked you up in the Congressional Register and was impressed with the mention of "riverboat captain"... probably an interesting story there! Perhaps our paths will cross one day and I will get to hear it. This case came before the Court on January 23, 1997, on plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment. Factual Backaround: The Compacts of Free Association were adopted by the United P.L. 99-239, 99 Stat. 1770 at sea 48 0.9.C. $1901 st 1 48 U.S.C. $1901 2 L. adopts two Compacts of Free Association, the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia (48 U.S.C. $1901(a)), and the Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Government of the Marshall Islands (48 U.S.C. $1901(b)). 1 approving the Compact, it is not the intent of the Congress to 2 3 cause any adverse consequences for the United States territories and commonwealths and the State of Hawaii." Section 1904 (e) (2) 4 requires the President of the United States to "report to the 5 Congress with respect to the impact of the Compact on the United States territories and commonwealths and on the State of Havaii." Subsection (e) (3) requires the President to request the views of "the Goverment of the state of Hawaii and the goverments each of the United States territories and commonwealths,... and shall transmit the full text of any such views to the Congress as part of such reports." Under $1904 (s) (1), the first report vas due January 14, 1987, and on January 14 of every year thereafter. The first report was prepared in 1989, and had not been prepared since then. This lawsuit vas filed in Novembar of 1995. On September, 1996, the Office of Insular Affairs of the Department of the Interior prepared the second-ever repart. fifteen-page report vas entitled "The Impact of the Compacts of Free Association on the United States Territories and Commonwealths and on the state of Hawaii." The Motion: The Plaintiffs Goverment of Guan, Government of the Northern 22 Mariana Islands, and the State of Hawaii, jointly seek a decres · 23 24 25 of the court directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to do the following: On or before a date certain each year, the U.S. must report to the Congress with respect to the impact of the Compacts.' 2. The report shall identify any adversa consequences resulting from the Compacts and shall make corrective action to eliminate those consequences. 3. The report shall pay particular attention to matters relating 4. The report shall include statistics concerning the number of 5. In preparing the reports, the U.S. shall request the views of the government of Havaíi and each of the territories and Commonwealths, F, Marshall Islands, and Palau, and shall transmit the full text of any such views to the Congress as part of such reports. 10 12 6. In addition to 12 13 24 15 16 matters stated in ga 1-4, in recognition of Congress' commitment to address any consequences adverse to the Territory of Guan, CT or the state of Hawaii, and Congress' authorization to appropriate funds to address those adverse consequences, the report shall address the financial impact on Quan, the CNT and Bevail of the compacts. 7. The report shall set forth the sources of all data relied upon by the Raspondents, identify the methodology and analysis 23 24 25 26 Fourth sentence of $1904 (a) (2) From text of §1904 (●) (3) . Lan $1904 (a) (4) : the Congress hereby declares that, if any advers consequences to the United States territories and commonwealths or the State of Havaji result from the implementation of the Compact of Free Association, the Congress vill act sympathetically and expeditiously to redress those adverse consequences. Page 3 |