Bordallo spokesman: Ritidian bill shelved, but not dead

Pacific Daily News
By Raju Chebium
May 9, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Del. Madeleine Bordallo has temporarily shelved her plan to give the military control over public access to the Guam National Wildlife Refuge.
On Thursday, Bordallo withdrew the so-called Guam Military Training and Readiness Act from the list of measures that the House Natural Resources Committee was scheduled to debate, amend and vote on.

A day earlier, bowing to pressure from Guam, she decided against attaching her proposal to a 2015 defense-authorization measure that cleared the House Armed Services Committee.

Bordallo says the reason for withdrawing the proposal is to give Guam residents ample time to consider where the Marine Corps should build a firing-range complex to support the training needs of 5,000 Marines scheduled to relocate from Japan.

But her actions also put roadblocks on the two legislative paths on which could proposal could have advanced.

That doesn't mean the plan is dead, according to Adam Carbullido, Bordallo's spokesman.

He said in a Capitol Hill interview Thursday that the Democratic delegate can still attach her proposal to the defense bill when the House debates it in a few weeks.

But first, he said, "we want to hear more from the community."

"Because of the sensitive nature of it, the congresswoman does believe that the community should have the opportunity to provide their feedback on (her bill) and for leaders to provide greater feedback," Carbullido said.

He also urged Guam residents to attend public hearings scheduled for May 17, 19 and 20 to hear directly from the military about the firing-range location and related issues.

As originally crafted at the Navy's request, Bordallo's bill would have authorized the Navy secretary to establish a safety buffer over a portion of the refuge when the ranges were in use and close any part of the refuge for safety or national security reasons.

The idea behind setting up a "surface danger zone" was to allow the Marine Corps to operate the ranges safely and eliminate even the slim chance of people getting injured.

At a Natural Resources subcommittee hearing last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service objected to the bill, arguing that it could jeopardize critical habitat for endangered species and hinder the government's conservation work.

Carbullido said Bordallo revised the proposal with input from Fish and Wildlife and the Navy and told Guam's leaders about the changes.

The new bill, which the full Natural Resources Committee was to take up Thursday, would have still granted the Navy the authority it wanted. But it would also have required the Navy to work with the community on access issues, pay to move the wildlife refuge center to a different location and do additional cultural and environmental conservation.

And the Interior Department -- Fish and Wildlife's parent agency -- would have been required to do a study exploring alternate sites for the refuge itself, he said.

Construction of the firing ranges would not begin until at least 2017. Bordallo has said if the range complex isn't built the Marine buildup may be in jeopardy.

The Pentagon says the best location for the ranges is the Northwest Field of Andersen Air Force Base, which overlooks a portion of the refuge. The military says it needs the legal authority to create safety zones because without it the ranges cannot be built.

Bordallo agreed to write a bill giving the military that authority, but critics in Guam say she did not consult with them before introducing her measure.