Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan welcomed the U.S. Department of the Navy's decision approving expanded joint military training on Tinian, saying the Record of Decision provides long-awaited clarity on the project while stressing that residents deserve to understand what it means for the island's future.
"I think it's good news for Tinian," Aldan said in an interview with Marianas Press during a break in the CNMI Republican Party's meet-and-greet last Aug. 1 at the Veterans Memorial Park in Susupe. "Now we know exactly where we're headed, and we can start preparing for what's coming."
The mayor said he hopes the Department of the Navy will continue working closely with the municipality and the community as the project moves forward.
"We just want to make sure our people are informed every step of the way," he said. "Communication is going to be very important."
The comments came after the Department of the Navy issued a Record of Decision, signed on July 23, 2026, by Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment) Brendan P. Rogers, formally selecting Alternative 1 under the CNMI Joint Military Training Final Environmental Impact Statement. The decision allows expanded land-based military training and supporting infrastructure on Tinian following more than a decade of environmental review and public consultation.
"The United States (U.S.) Department of the Navy (DON), after carefully weighing the strategic, operational, and environmental consequences of the Proposed Action, announces its decision to conduct land-based training for ongoing and evolving joint expeditionary warfare tactics, specifically, distributed operations on the island of Tinian in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), as identified in Alternative 1 of the CNMI Joint Military Training (CJMT) Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)," the Record of Decision states.
Under the approved alternative, military training on Tinian will increase by about 15% over already approved activities. The project authorizes construction of two live-fire ranges, landing zones, a drop zone, ammunition holding areas, surface radar towers, an aircraft shelter, biosecurity facilities and an on-island Range Operations Command that will coordinate training activities and provide public notification.
According to the Record of Decision, the expanded facilities are intended to improve the readiness of U.S. forces operating in the Indo-Pacific.
"The purpose of the Proposed Action is to reduce joint training deficiencies for U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific area of operations," the document states.
It adds, "The development and operation of a realistic and instrumented training environment on Tinian, sized to accommodate combined joint and allied forces training and readily available for scheduling, will enable forward-deployed U.S. Armed Forces to meet evolving operational training requirements and support U.S. training with allied nations, changes in U.S. force structure, and geographic repositioning of forces."
The project has undergone years of environmental review.
The U.S. Marine Corps published the notice of availability for the draft environmental impact statement on April 6, 2015. Following public comments on the proposal, it announced on Feb. 18, 2016, that it would prepare a revised draft environmental impact statement focused on Tinian. Public information sessions on the revised proposal were later held on Tinian, Saipan and Rota in August 2023.
The revised draft environmental impact statement was published on June 6, 2025, beginning a 75-day public comment period that was later extended to 90 days, ending Sept. 4, 2025. Public meetings were held on Tinian, Saipan, and Rota during the week of June 23, 2025, while additional office hours were conducted on Tinian in August 2025. The Navy said it received 83 public comment submissions, and no comments were received during the 30-day waiting period following publication of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which ended June 20, 2026.
The Record of Decision concludes that environmental impacts to most resource areas would be less than significant with mitigation measures in place. It identifies one significant socioeconomic impact involving local fishers and boaters, who may have to travel longer distances when temporary surface danger zones north of Tinian are activated during live-fire exercises.
To lessen those impacts, the Department of Defense committed to advance public notification of training activities, conduct groundwater monitoring and soil sampling, develop a wildfire management plan, continue biosecurity measures and work with the CNMI government to identify funding sources for fish aggregating devices benefiting subsistence fishers.
The Record of Decision also states that construction of the proposed ranges and related infrastructure will not begin immediately. Instead, the Navy must first satisfy several conditions, including establishing Range Control on Tinian, completing biosecurity facilities, installing groundwater monitoring wells and completing one year of baseline monitoring, conducting soil sampling, finalizing a wildfire management plan and securing funding for fish aggregating devices associated with the project.
In its conclusion, the Department of the Navy said "Alternative 1 best meets the current and future training needs of the U.S. Armed Forces to meet their respective national defense missions as prescribed by Congress." It added that the required mitigation measures and environmental commitments developed through consultations with federal and CNMI agencies would minimize environmental impacts associated with the project.
Share this article:
