U.S. Navy Scales Back Destructive Live-Fire Training in Northern Mariana Islands

The U.S. Navy announced late last week that it has substantially scaled back plans for live-fire military training in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The Navy reached this decision after incorporating feedback collected from the local community and government using the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.

“We welcome the Navy’s decision to listen to our voices and to spare our island from highly destructive training. We will remain vigilant to ensure the Navy follows through on its new plan,” said Juanita Mendiola of Titian Women Association.

The Navy originally proposed highly destructive military training that would have made the island of Pågan entirely uninhabitable and shattered the economy and quality of life on the island of Tinian. After collecting public comments and making public disclosures as part of NEPA’s mandated environmental review, the Navy determined that the military could achieve readiness by conducting more limited training on only Tinian, an improved outcome more acceptable to the local community.

“We are from a millennia-old line of seafarers, from the long voyaging sakman and the smaller duduli and galaidi’ all flying lateen sails, plying the open waters and cresting the waves with the blue marlin, bottle-nosed dolphins, pilot and humpback whales. We have rejoiced in feats of triumph and lived through bitter defeat and senseless demoralization because we are also from deep ancestral resilience wherein lies vested our hope and sacrifice for a better tomorrow,” said Genevieve S. Cabrera, Guardian of Gåni’

“We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported this effort for more than a decade—this victory belongs to the people of the CNMI and all who stood with us. While we celebrate this win, we also recognize that the laws that made it possible are under attack. The National Environmental Policy Act ensured our communities had a meaningful voice in decisions affecting our future and helped prevent a proposal that would have had devastating consequences for our homeland. Now we must defend NEPA,” said Pete Perez, Co-founder of PaganWatch. 

“There is no question that the Navy would never have given up on its original, highly destructive plan if NEPA did not force it to make its decision-making public and to invite and consider public input. NEPA’s environmental review process resulted in a plan that is better for the local community and the environment, without sacrificing national security,” said David Henkin, an attorney with Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific Office.

Background

In April 2015, the Navy published a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for CNMI Joint Military Training. It announced the military’s plan to conduct expansive, highly destructive training on the Northern Mariana Islands of Tinian and Pågan. The Navy planned to use Pågan as a target island, with aerial bombing, ship-to-shore shelling, and live-fire amphibious assaults. This would have prevented the families with ancestral ties to Pågan from ever returning; a volcanic eruption left the island largely uninhabited since 1981 but resettlement is in the works. On Tinian, whose economy relies on tourism and ranching, the Navy proposed to conduct extensive mortar and artillery training nearly half the year on the northern two-thirds of the island.

The public responded with a strong outcry, prompting protests from the local government. In the face of this opposition, the Navy withdrew the draft environmental impact statement in early 2016, with a promise to respond to public concerns in its revisions.

The Navy engaged in extensive negotiations with the CNMI government and other stakeholders, which pushed the release of the revised Draft Environmental Impact Statement to June 2025. When the revised statement finally came out, training on Pågan was completely off the table, and the Navy’s proposed training on Tinian was substantially scaled back. The Navy selected this training alternative on July 23, 2026, with a Federal Register notice announcing the Navy’s decision on July 31, 2026.