In a self-described effort to make a "statement" to the federal government, Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen has introduced a bill seeking local control of all the submerged lands between St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John.
Christensen introducted HR 5019 on July 27. If approved, it would turn over all of the United States’ interest in submerged lands to the Virgin Islands government.
The bill states that the submerged lands include those that are outside the territory's three-mile limit and that are north of St. Croix; south of St. Thomas and St. John; east of the line running from the westernmost point on the coastline of St. Croix to the westernmost point on the coastline of St. Thomas; and west of the line running from the easternmost point on the coastline of St. Croix to the easternmost point on the coastline of St. John.
Christensen said she introduced the bill as a way to let the federal government and, more precisely, the Interior Department know that the Virgin Islands doesn’t intend to be a pushover when it comes to mandates handed down from Washington. She pointed out the memorandum of understanding signed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Gov. Charles Turnbull last October that sets out an array of tasks the administration must complete to achieve economic health. Interior oversees both the National Park Service and America’s territories.
The memorandum includes a section dedicated to enhancing the territory’s natural resources that calls for the exchange of interests of land, including submerged lands and coral reefs.
Christensen also noted the manner in which the Park Service’s St. John visitor center was proposed and developed and issues between the territory’s fishermen and the federal government.
In light of the way federal officials have handled those issues, Christensen said her bill "makes a statement in more than one way."
"I’m not anti-Interior," she said. "I feel sometimes we give in a little too early. It basically makes a statement that if we had our druthers, the water around the Virgin Islands would belong to us. I think of the bill as away of discussing what the Virgin Islands is willing to give up and what we’re not willing to exchange."
The idea of such a proposal came about when constituents approached her about their problems with the federal government concerning fishery issues, such as no-take zones. The initiative isn’t something she "pulled out of the blue," Christensen said, and it isn’t an effort to take back the Park Service’s Buck Island Reef National Monument or anything else the agency manages.
"I believe . . . we have to maintain a balance between preservation of our environment and the traditional uses of our water," she said. "I see this as giving people a voice."
But news of the delegate’s bill came as a surprise to several people in the Virgin Islands government. A seemingly exasperated Dean Plaskett, commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and trustee of the territory’s submerged lands, said he had never heard of HR 5019 until asked by the Source. Likewise for Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, chairman of the Senate Committee on Planning and Environmental Protection.
"I have no comment," Plaskett said. "I haven’t seen (the bill)."
Christensen "hasn’t consulted with us so there is nothing I can say," he added.
Christensen said Interior hadn't been advised of the bill before its introduction either. She said that over the years, many of the department's proposals have resembled decrees rather than cooperative efforts, such as the parking lot issue at the Christiansted National Historic Site.
"We aren't always consulted either," she said.
Christensen’s proposal has yet to be assigned to a House committee, making passage of it this year unlikely. But having the bill approved isn’t necessarily the point, she said. It is the principle she wants Washington policymakers to understand.
"The chance of getting a bill like that passed is very unlikely," she said. "It’s a statement of opposition."
