Puerto Rico Update Archives

Base Cleanup Struggles Around the World

By Luis Monterrosa

Many people think of Vieques when they think of the environmental effects of bombing practices on U.S. bases. But the U.S. military's malignancy is not limited to Latin America and has spread like a cancer to all corners of the world, including communities in the United States. The struggle for cleanup and accountability has followed. The following is a brief compendium of some U.S. base cleanup struggles from around the world.

• Panama
  In February, construction workers laboring on renovations to the locks of the Panama Canal found a live 40-millimeter explosive caught in the teeth of earth removal equipment. It was the eighth such discovery of unexploded munitions left by U.S. military forces outside the firing range impact areas that border the canal since 1997. Panamanian officials continue to negotiate with Washington for a full cleanup of the firing ranges and of lands used for chemical weapons tests. But so far Washington has not budged on its position that it did everything "practicable" before closing military bases in 1999 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties.

• South Korea
  On December 28, after five years of negotiation, the United States and South Korea agreed on new rules that would give the Seoul government greater jurisdiction over American soldiers accused of committing crimes while stationed there. However, civic groups accused the U.S. and South Korean governments of avoiding concrete measures to prevent and compensate for past environmental damage caused by the U.S. troops

• Philippines
  Filipinos living near Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Facility have for years reported many stillbirths, congenital defects, cancers including childhood leukemia, nervous system problems, and skin diseases. On February 25, 2000 a child named Crizel Jane Valencia, a former resident of U.S. Clark Air Base, died of leukemia. Filipinos linked the death to the toxic contamination that the U.S. government has turned a blind eye to at its former bases. Crizel is one of many children who have experienced suffering at the hands of the U.S. military's environmental contamination. On February 25, 2001, Filipinos in cities nationwide launched a grassroots campaign to seek U.S. accountability for toxic waste left at its former U.S. military bases in the Philippines.

• South Pacific
  From the island of Finegayan, an environmental group has filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Defense Department from using a bombing range on a 200-acre island about 150 miles north of Guam in the Northern Marianas Islands. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit New Mexico group, which claims that the use of the Farallon de Medinilla range violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed the complaint in Washington and named former Navy chief Richard Danzig and former Defense Secretary William Cohen as defendants in the complaint. The defense fund's attorney Paul Achitoff says, "The Navy asked the [Fish and] Wildlife Agency in 1996 for a permit to use the island as a range, but was refused. The Navy, however, continued to use the range, saying the treaty did not apply to federal agencies."

• Hawaii
  Two years ago, public outcry forced the U.S. military to halt its training at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii's Makua Valley off the coast of Oahu, after brush fires caused by the firing of weapons threatened the area's ecosystem. In recent years, the U.S. military's training has drawn protests from residents and even federal regulators. A group of residents, with the help of the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit demanding that the Army comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and conduct a study of the training's impact on the valley. After two years, the Army recently announced that it is ready to resume training, provoking a new round of protests and lawsuit.

Sources: La Prensa, 2/24/01; AP 12/29/00, FACES www.facessolutions.org, "Suit Targets Range on Marianas Islands" NY Times, 4/1/01.

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