Comments sought for planned cable through Marianas Trench

[TexasTowelie]

A federal agency is seeking testimony from the public about a requested permit to build a communications cable through the Mariana Trench National Wildlife Refuge.

A press release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the project from RTI Solutions Inc. affects the refuge it manages, which is a portion of the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. The cable "would provide improved telecommunications interconnectivity between the Western Pacific region and the U.S. mainland," the agency stated.

The monument was created through a presidential proclamation in 2009 and is more than 95,000 square miles, larger than the state of Florida. It includes the islands of Uracus, Maug and Asuncion in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 21 volcanic sites, and the northern and southern limits of the exclusive economic zones for the CNMI and Guam, respectively. The federal designation "provides international, national, and local recognition that the Marianas is a refuge for seabirds, sea turtles, unique coral reefs, and a great diversity of seamount and hydrothermal vent life worth preservation," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which helps to manage the monument, states on its website.

Comments about a draft environmental assessment of the proposal are being accepted through April 6. The study includes a "Proposed Action Alternative" that would lay a cable that crosses over the Mariana Trench and through the monument for approximately 44 miles. This action "would not result in significant impacts to environmental resources, and was determined to be the preferred alternative, since it meets the purpose and need of the project," according to a summary of the assessment.

Read more: https://www.postguam.com/news/local/comments-sought-for-planned-cable-through-marianas-trench/article_816373ca-8ae2-11eb-b47e-c30f18f2ecb2.html

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. My comment is that cables across the ocean floor are innocuous to wildlife, so go for it ...

Matter of fact, they might even act to protect wildlife, because fishing trawlers aren't going to want to risk destroying the cable and being on the hook for fixing it.

[Roy Rolling]

2. Same Here

Go for it.

I live in New Orleans. When an optical fiber cable ruptures and spews 50,000 barrels of oil in the water for three months straight I’ll re-evaluate my opinion.

[TexasTowelie]

3. But think of all of that misinformation that will spill.

[patricia92243]

4. I'll be interested to see them to actually get a cable to work in waters

as deep as the trench. Maybe I am thinking of something else- the deepest place know to man is some kind of ocean trench. Can't remember the name.

[TexasTowelie]

5. It is the Mariana Trench.

It's about 7 miles deep.