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EPA ISSUES EMERGENCY PERMIT FOR DETONATION OF MUNITIONS IN CNMI

Release Date: 4/26/2002
Contact Information: Mike Ardito, U.S. EPA, (415) 972-3081

SAN FRANCISCO B The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued an emergency 90-day permit allowing the detonation or open burning of unexploded World War II munitions in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

Since the EPA has determined that the unexploded ordnance present an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment, the emergency permit was issued to allow the wastes to be safely destroyed in a timely manner by the U.S. Navy.

The CNMI Emergency Management Office will manage the unexploded ordnance disposal range at the Tinian Pina Quarry tentatively scheduled between May 1 and 6. The Emergency Management Office will also manage the unexploded ordnance for Saipan in late May or June at a disposal range in Marpi, one mile north of the construction site of the new Marpi Landfill. The unexploded ordnance includes bombs, projectiles, small caliber ammunition, and fuses.

The operating conditions of the permit limit activities to daylight hours only, one open burn per day, with wind speeds equal or less than 15 miles per hour, and no performance if electrical storms are within three miles of the disposal range or if major storms capable of flooding the disposal range are forecast to occur within 24 hours.

The Emergency Management Office is required under the permit to notify the following government agencies 48 hours in advance of an actual detonation or burn: the CNMI Division of Environmental Quality, the office of the Tinian mayor, the office of the Saipan mayor, and the EPA in San Francisco. The emergency permit was issued simultaneously with a public notice.

The Emergency Management Office is continually encountering and recovering unexploded ordnance. Saipan and Tinian were the sites of major battles and military operations during World War II.