U.S. military to lease and level Pagan Island

Robert LeCompte Jul 6, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>U.S. military to lease and level Pagan Island</h1>
                <h2><p>The Pentagon wants to lease Pagan Island from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — a chain  between Hawaii and the Philippines — for amphibious training. The exercises, reports Huffington Post, include live-firing guns and mortars, B-52 bombing runs and fun with drones, helicopters and fighter jets. The lease could pump</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/robert-lecompte-crosscut-com/">Robert LeCompte</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>The Pentagon wants to lease Pagan Island from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — a chain  between Hawaii and the Philippines — for amphibious training. The exercises, reports <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/29/pagan-island-marines-military_n_7342168.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Huffington Post</a>, include live-firing guns and mortars, B-52 bombing runs and fun with drones, helicopters and fighter jets. The lease could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the island chain's struggling economy, but the war games would essentially turn the island "into a wasteland," argues Jerome Aldan, mayor of the Northern Islands of the Commonwealth. Pagan Island is home to endangered fruit bats, a rare tree snail and several species of birds which are only found there. Tough and familiar choice for Mariana Island's governor, Eloy Inos: jobs or the environment.</p>
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The Pentagon wants to lease Pagan Island from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — a chain between Hawaii and the Philippines — for amphibious training. The exercises, reports Huffington Post, include live-firing guns and mortars, B-52 bombing runs and fun with drones, helicopters and fighter jets. The lease could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the island chain's struggling economy, but the war games would essentially turn the island "into a wasteland," argues Jerome Aldan, mayor of the Northern Islands of the Commonwealth. Pagan Island is home to endangered fruit bats, a rare tree snail and several species of birds which are only found there. Tough and familiar choice for Mariana Island's governor, Eloy Inos: jobs or the environment.

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By Robert LeCompte

Robert LeCompte is an editorial intern at Crosscut. He studies communications and film at The Evergreen State College where he recently transferred from Maryland. When not working, he can usually be f