Resident Ian Gurr has, again, written to Attorney General Falefatu Fainu’ulelei Ala’ilima Utu asking for answers to his questions on a land use permit, to set up a MET tower on land close to Aoloau.
Gurr said, in a July 7th mail to the AG, that he has yet to receive a response from him or his office to his first email of June 21 regarding the land use permit.
Gurr had expressed concerns with the validity of a permit issued by the Project Notification and Review System (PNRS) Board, to the American Samoa Power Authority/Tutuila Wind Energy (TWE) to transport and install a MET tower in the area between Aoloau, Leone, Auma, Amaluia, Asili, Maloata and Fagamalo.
His concerns were:
- The identity of the actual owner of this piece of land for which the permit was issued is not known or listed in the Land Use Permit.
- Ownership of the specific site for which the permit was granted, and the general area “Manunu”, are currently in dispute at the American Samoa Territorial Registrars Office (TRO) and the Office of Samoan Affairs.
- Local partners in the project should be identified to exclude conflict of interest.
Gurr attached the PNRS permit and a copy of the application for registration by Auma Village chiefs at the Territorial Registrar’s Office in October 2021 to the area called Manunu.
According to Gurr, there have been at least 5 objections to this application for registration and survey.
He informed the AG, “There is also an unresolved case between Auma and Aoloau villages from 1981 regarding ownership and boundaries of this area called Manunu.”
Gurr pointed out there are other unresolved cases concerning ownership and boundaries of this area, and while they remain unresolved, he cannot see how a legitimate land use permit could have been issued.
He told the AG, that unless these issues are settled, the PNRS permit for the MET tower should be declared invalid and any work on the project should be stopped.
