[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1958 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1958

 To amend the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 to repeal 
the limitation on the authorized uses of the former bombardment area on 
    the island of Culebra and the prohibition on Federal Government 
            responsibility for decontamination of the area.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 2, 2009

    Mr. Pierluisi (for himself, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Gutierrez, and Ms. 
  Velazquez) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 to repeal 
the limitation on the authorized uses of the former bombardment area on 
    the island of Culebra and the prohibition on Federal Government 
            responsibility for decontamination of the area.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DECONTAMINATION AND USE OF FORMER BOMBARDMENT AREA ON ISLAND 
              OF CULEBRA.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, is located approximately 
        17 miles from the east coast of Puerto Rico's main island, and 
        the Navy conducted ship-to-shore bombing exercises and other 
        live-fire training activities for over 70 years in unpopulated 
        areas of Culebra and its surrounding waters.
            (2) In 1975, Congress required the Navy to close its 
        operations on Culebra in response to long-standing concerns 
        among the residents about safety, health, and environmental 
        risks. The Navy moved its operations to nearby training 
        facilities on Vieques Island, which were closed in 2003 due to 
        similar concerns.
            (3) Although the Navy's facilities on Culebra closed in 
        1975, the Department of Defense did not begin to address the 
        cleanup of these areas until Congress enacted specific 
        authorities for the cleanup of former United States military 
        sites in section 211 of the Superfund Amendments and 
        Reauthorization Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-499). With these 
        authorities, the Army Corps of Engineers added Culebra to the 
        Formerly Used Defense Sites Program in 1991, and for several 
        years thereafter, performed relatively limited cleanup of 
        unexploded ordnance from the surface.
            (4) In 2003, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Sila M. Calderon, 
        requested that the Environmental Protection Agency add both 
        Culebra and Vieques to the National Priorities List of the most 
        hazardous sites. In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency 
        added Vieques to the National Priorities List, but delayed its 
        listing decision for Culebra. Instead, Puerto Rico and the Army 
        Corps of Engineers decided to address the cleanup of Culebra 
        under a separate agreement, under which the Army Corps of 
        Engineers has begun to plan a more comprehensive removal of 
        unexploded ordnance on Culebra.
            (5) The Army Corps of Engineers had spent $11,100,000 as of 
        the end of fiscal year 2007 on the cleanup of Culebra and 
        estimated that another $92,600,000 would be needed to complete 
        planned cleanup actions. These amounts pale in comparison to 
        the $77,600,000 the Navy has already spent, and the 
        $253,100,000 the Navy plans to spend in the future, to complete 
        the cleanup of Vieques.
            (6) The more limited scope of the cleanup on Culebra has 
        become a rising issue. The greater funding for Vieques is not 
        based on differing conditions on the islands. Both were used 
        for the same types of training exercises for several decades 
        and are likely to contain similar hazards.
            (7) Instead, the discrepancy is primarily attributable to 
        the fact that certain of the most potentially hazardous areas 
        on Culebra, including the Northwest Peninsula and Flamenco 
        Beach, have been excluded from Federal cleanup plans because 
        the Corps of Engineers maintains that a 1974 Federal law 
        prohibits the Army Corps of Engineers from conducting cleanup 
        in those areas.
            (8) Section 204(c) of the Military Construction 
        Authorization Act, 1974 (Public Law 93-166; 87 Stat. 668) 
        prohibited land uses in the ``present'' (at the time of 
        enactment) bombardment zone on Culebra that would require 
        cleanup at the expense of the Federal Government.
            (9) Puerto Rico asserts that specific authorities for the 
        cleanup of former United States military sites enacted later by 
        Congress in Public Law 99-499 superseded this prohibition. 
        Despite these later authorities, the Army Corps of Engineers 
        maintains that the prohibition still stands to exclude certain 
        areas of Culebra from Federal cleanup funds that otherwise are 
        available to all other former United States military sites in 
        the 50 States and United States territories.
            (10) Based on its interpretation, the Army Corps of 
        Engineers has not included the Northwest Peninsula and Flamenco 
        Beach in the scope of its cleanup plan for Culebra. Because the 
        Northwest Peninsula and Flamenco Beach likely contain the 
        greatest amounts of unexploded ordnance on Culebra, public 
        concern has grown about the exclusion of these areas from the 
        cleanup effort.
            (11) Section 2872 of H.R. 5658 of the 110th Congress, as 
        passed by the House of Representatives, would have repealed the 
        prohibition in the 1974 statute, allowing the Army Corps of 
        Engineers to expend funds to address potential human health, 
        safety, and environmental risks in the Northwest Peninsula and 
        Flamenco Beach.
    (b) Repeal.--Section 204 of the Military Construction Authorization 
Act, 1974 (Public Law 93-166; 87 Stat. 668) is amended by striking 
subsection (c).
                                 <all>