Guam – The requirement in the National Defense Authorization Act that DOD be given 33 percent representation on the CCU if the Fena water system is transferred to Guam has been removed by the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee. Senators Tom Ada, Frank Blas Jr. and Speaker Judi Won Pat are pleased.
“Well I’m certainly very pleased with that development and from the very beginning I indicated that what really rubbed me the wrong way with that was I thought it was very colonialistic and by removing that then at least we then now remove that from the slate and I’m certainly very happy with the decision,” said Senator Tm Ada.
While Senator Ada is happy with this development he’s still opposed to the provision that the Navy’s water assets be sold to GovGuam at fair market value. That provision is still in the bill. Senator Ada would rather use the same model that the U.S. Government used when the Navy’s power assets were turned over to the Guam Power Authority decades ago. “The model was that the Guam Power Authority had to achieve certain standards, industry standards and once those standards were achieved the Navy gave control over to the Guam Power Authority and the Navy became a customer of the Guam Power Authority which it still is today,” explained Senator Ada.
Senator Frank Blas Jr. is also happy with the removal of the CCU provision. “I’m very pleased I thank members of congress for recognizing that…that was really an onerous and really unacceptable provision. I see that they saw that it wasn’t right and I appreciate their unanimous approval to remove it,” said Senator Blas.
However, the local lawmakers still feels strongly that GovGuam should not have to pay for the Fena water system. “GovGuam should not have to pay for something that we’ve already been paying for,” explained Senator Blas.
As a matter of fact, Speaker Judi Won Pat has asked that Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo look into how much GovGuam has actually paid to the Navy for the use of Fena water. “We’ve asked them to also look into not just the total cost in terms of what the government has purchased water from them but more importantly whether the government is in that position in particular to be in the business to sell water and we have purchased this water and where does the money go it just doesn’t make any sense at all,” said Speaker Won Pat.
The speaker is pleased that the CCU provision was removed but she still thinks that GovGuam should not have to purchase Fena at fair market value. The amendment that removes the 33% CCU representation provision must still be approved by the full committee and the full house.
