When the military abandons a bombing range in a populated area and the federal government turns it into a “wildlife refuge,” how the land will be used becomes a critical question for everyone involved.

In Vieques, these stakeholders include, above all, the community which seeks to protect residents from explosives, contamination and exploitative development, as well as make use of the lands formerly controlled by the military. The Department of Interior’s Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) now has title to those lands, and must by law create a “Comprehensive Conservation Plan” for the 19,000-acre refuge.

The Navy will have to pay for the cleanup, which it carries out through contractors, and under the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The community considered land use both as part of a master plan and in meetings convened by Fish & Wildlife in November. The master plan was developed with community input by Estudios Tecnicos, a Puerto Rican consulting firm, and is supposed to be approved by the Puerto Rican government before January. The plan calls for protection of coastal areas and historical and cultural sites, effectively preventing the development of mega-hotels, which the community has opposed.

The Master Plan does not provide any guidance for the use of lands currently controlled by the federal government, but it does require that any plan – such as the wildlife refuge “conservation plan” – conform to the master plan.

At a public meeting called by FWS on November 8, some 40 community residents offered comments on uses they would like for the refuge. Among the uses advocated at the meeting were housing, a visitors center, camping, agriculture, a study center, and an international laboratory for environmental cleanup. But residents have no power to decide those uses. That decision, based on what is “compatible” with wildlife refuge, will be made by Fish & Wildlife regional director, refuge manager Oscar Diaz said. Asked to stretch the guidelines for refuge compatability, FWS officials said no, according to Vieques residents who were present.

Navy Wants to Leave Waste on Wetlands

Near a former open detonation site on the western end of Vieques, the Navy has documented a dumpsite in a quebrada or wetland. Now, says Vieques Refuge Manager Oscar Diaz, the Navy claims that soil tests show there are no hazardous materials in the site, and want to leave it there.

Bomb crater in Vieques
Credit: Jorge Fernández Porto

But dumping on wetlands is illegal under the Clean Water Act, Diaz points out.

Marine scientists from the University of Georgia who studied coral reefs near the Vieques bombing range found that every animal tested on a reef near unexploded bombs “contained at least one potentially toxic compound. The toxic chemicals found in these reef organisms do not occur in nature but come exclusively from explosive ordnance.”

The scientists also tested sediments and organisms near the wreck of the USS Killen, a ship that had been used as a target in atomic tests in the 1950s, and later shipped to Vieques as a target for bombing with conventional explosives. There had been fear that the Killen may still be radioactive, or that drums with unknown materials inside the wreck were toxic. Fortunately, the team found no radioactive waste at the Killen site. But they were emphatic that convention munitions in Vieques waters were contaminating the area.

“We strongly recommend that unexploded ordnance on the Vieques coral reef be picked up and removed.” This action, the scientists wrote, “will have an immediate and beneficial effect on the coral reef ecosystem by removing sources of toxic chemicals from the environment.”

Another recent study shows uranium and lead contamination in seagrass beds that serve as feeding areas for conch, lobsters and other edible sea creatures. The team led by microbiologist Arturo Massol found no uranium contamination in land-based organisms. They pointed out that while low concentrations of uranium can be found naturally in seawater, depleted uranium was also fired on the bombing range. They recommended further study to understand the origin of uranium in Vieques sea grasses, and urged Vieques residents to limit consumption of lobster and conch caught in the area studied, as “first line of defense against the possible effects” of toxics found there.

Sources: James Barton and James W. Porter, Radiological, Chemical, and Environmental Health Assessment of the Marine Resources on the Isla de Vieques Bombing Range, Bahia del Sur, Puerto Rico, March 2004; Update staff interviews; Massol study, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez campus, Biology Dept, August 2004. The proposed Vieques master plan can be found on-line at: www.estudios-tecnicos.com.

From Puerto Rico / Colombia Update, published by Fellowship of Reconciliation, December 2004.

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