Hagåtña, Guam – The Office of the Governor issues the following response to Senator Chris Barnett’s false allegations against the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration:
“In a statement posted on his social media platforms on Tuesday, Senator Barnett claimed that our administration has begun moving forward with the Department of Defense to prepare for missile defense sites ahead of the scoping period. His statements are completely false and an attempt to deceive the public to benefit his personal agenda against the Administration. Acts like this only further segregate the trust between our island and military partners.
The only information the administration has with regard to DoD’s missile defense plan is the information that DoD has already made public.
At this time, the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration is preparing to respond as a government to provide comments from all relevant agencies who may have a direct or indirect impact from the proposed action. Much like the public is invited to participate in the public comment period, the Government of Guam will also be providing input in the areas of environment, socioeconomics, infrastructure, economics, and labor and workforce development. The scoping meetings are designed to elicit public input into the scoping process. This is where the public can comment on what they would like included in the scope of the environmental impact statement. The scoping process is “used to ensure the analysis of issues of interest to the public and/or important to decision making,” – Federal Register/Vol. 79, No. 153/Notices 46411
The exact details of the Missile Defense Agency’s plans have not been released to the public or to the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration. The only information that has been released has already been publicly noticed and published at https://www.mda.mil/system/eiamd/ and mirrored on the Office of the Governor of Guam’s website at (https://governor.guam.gov/militaryaffairs/).
Although the original scoping comment period was initially scheduled to close on June 27, 2023, the MDA extended the scoping comment period to August 11, 2023 due to ongoing recovery from Typhoon Mawar. During this period, the federal agency and the public collaborate to define the range of issues to be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
The in-person open house scoping meetings will be held at a later date. Information will be published as it becomes available to us.”
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