Published in "Inside the Navy"
Citing health, property concerns. . .
LAWMAKERS DEMAND MEETING WITH SECNAV ON COMPENSATING VIEQUEANS
_______________________________________________
Date: July 28, 2003
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are demanding to meet
with acting Navy Secretary Hansford Johnson to
discuss compensating residents of Vieques, the Puerto Rican island
that was used for over 60 years by U.S. naval forces to
conduct bombing exercises.
The Navy officially ceased exercises off the commonwealth's shores in
May and intends to pull out U.S. forces from Roosevelt
Roads Naval Station and close down range operations by Sept. 30.
In recent years, Democrats in Congress, activists and Hollywood
celebrities joined island residents to protest the Navy's
occupation of the island and use of live-fire bombing exercises. The
protest's momentum soared after two off-target bombs
dropped by a Navy jet killed a civilian guard in 1999.
Ceding to political pressure, President Bush announced in June 2001
the Navy would leave Vieques, but did not follow up with
a formal agreement to exit the island or a list of alternative
training sites until earlier this year. In January, then-Navy
Secretary Gordon England certified that troops would leave Vieques,
and that the Navy would replace the site with a network of training
ranges located along the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico as well as
simulation technology.
But residents and their supporters are demanding more than just the
cessation of bombing exercises; they are asking for
financial compensation. They claim tests of local vegetation,
animals, and people show there is sufficient evidence that heavy
metals used in the Navy's bombs and live ordnances have left behind
toxins. Allegedly, the contamination has afflicted resident
with health problems, such as cancer, hypertension, cirrhoses, and
diabetes.
Taking up the residents' cause, the nearly two-dozen members of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to Johnson
on July 24, demanding a meeting to discuss his plans "on compensating
these citizens for their legitimate health and property
claims."
"The Navy's discontinued use of the island as a training facility,
without the necessary clean up, will not stop the sickness and
accumulation of these metals in the people of Vieques," the letter
states. "American citizens will continue to get sick and will
continue to die."
"We urge you to make this meeting happen quickly, as each day, the
children and other residents of Vieques become sicker
and suffer life threatening and altering diseases due to this serious
contamination," the letter continues.
With the Capitol building providing a patriotic backdrop, members of
the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and House Armed
Services Committee held a press briefing last Thursday to urge the
Bush administration to settle claims with the people of
Vieques.
"I recognize that we can't undo the past, but we can make things
better in the future for the young children of Vieques, and the
current residents of Vieques who have suffered and endured so much,"
said Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX).
Flanked by self-described victims who were holding signs
reading "Health Before Politics" and "Viequeans Want Healthy
Children Too," Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) promised they would
confront every presidential candidate -- Democrats and
Republicans alike -- on this issue. "These children are sick," said
Velázquez, pointing to Viequean children that stood behind
the podium. "And I am sick about it as an American citizen."
But Jeffrey Farrow, a former Clinton advisor for Puerto Rican issues,
said no federal study has found a link between the Navy's
exercises on Vieques and the health problems alleged by Puerto Rican
scientists. Noting he has used his position in government
to challenge the U.S. military about medical claims in the past, he
said that in this case, none of the health claims have ever
proved true.
Considering no objective scientific authority has demonstrated the
cause and effect of the bombing and medical problems of
island residents, he said, "it seems to me there is a step missing
here" in terms of the requests for financial compensation.
Another issue Vieques supporters are now confronting is a provision
tucked into the House Appropriations Committee's
defense spending bill for fiscal year 2004. The provision, authored
by defense subcommittee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA),
directs the Navy to close Roosevelt Roads within six months of
President Bush signing the bill and sell the property to the
highest bidder with the Navy retaining the proceeds. Calling the
provision "controversial," Farrow said the language on selling
the property is unusual, and not in line with typical BRAC closure
conditions.
Many of the same activists who wanted the Navy to leave Vieques --
including Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Calderon -- are now
fighting to have Roosevelt Roads remain a base, fearing the
devastating effects its closure might have on the local economy.
The Senate's version of the defense appropriations bill did not
contain language closing the base. It remains to be seen whether
the provision will make it through the conference process, which was
still underway as of press time (July 25).
-- Malina Brown
© Inside Washington Publishers NAVY-16-30-13
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