[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1645 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1645

  To construct a specialty hospital and toxins research center on the 
        island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2011

Mr. Rothman of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Pierluisi, Mr. Thompson of 
 Mississippi, and Mr. Gutierrez) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to 
 the Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary, for a period 
    to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To construct a specialty hospital and toxins research center on the 
        island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Vieques Recovery and Development Act 
of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto Rico, 
        measuring approximately 21 miles long by 4 miles wide, and 
        located approximately 8 miles east of the main island of Puerto 
        Rico.
            (2) Vieques is home to nearly 10,000 United States 
        citizens, about 65 percent of whom live below the Federal 
        poverty line.
            (3) The average monthly unemployment rate in Vieques was 
        21.9 percent in 2009, 17.7 percent in 2010, and 15.7 percent in 
        January 2011.
            (4) Residents of Vieques are currently served by a single 
        primary and urgent care facility, the Susana Centeno Family 
        Health Center, and residents must travel off-island to obtain 
        many essential medical services, including most types of 
        emergency care.
            (5) The predominant means of transporting passengers and 
        goods between Vieques and the main island of Puerto Rico is by 
        ferry boat service, and over the years the efficacy of this 
        service has frequently been disrupted by launch delays and 
        mechanical problems.
            (6) The United States Navy maintained a presence on the 
        eastern and western portions of the island of Vieques, Puerto 
        Rico, for nearly 60 years and used parts of the island as a 
        training range during those years, dropping over 80 million 
        pounds of ordnance and employing virtually every type of 
        ammunition and ordnance available to the Navy since World War 
        II.
            (7) Residents living on the areas expropriated by the 
        Federal Government for the Navy's use were required to relocate 
        to the central portion of the island.
            (8) According to records of the Federal Government and 
        testimony of Navy personnel, the island of Vieques, Puerto 
        Rico, has high levels of heavy metals and has been exposed to 
        chemical weapons and toxic chemicals, including napalm, agent 
        orange, depleted uranium, white phosphorous, arsenic, mercury, 
        lead, aluminum, cadmium, antimony, magnesium, TNT, PCBs, RDX, 
        barium, cyanide, solvents, and pesticides. All of these weapons 
        and chemicals have been deployed on the island of Vieques, 
        Puerto Rico, in the interest of training for the defense of our 
        Nation.
            (9) The Navy established the Vieques Naval Training Range 
        in eastern Vieques, which consisted of two facilities: (1) the 
        Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, which was used for 
        ship-to-shore and aerial bombing exercises, and comprised a 
        Live Impact Area and a Secondary Impact Area; and (2) the 
        Eastern Maneuver Area, which was used primarily for ground-
        based training involving smaller munitions.
            (10) The Navy also established the Naval Ammunition Support 
        Detachment in western Vieques to store munitions used in its 
        training in eastern Vieques and to dispose of obsolete or 
        damaged munitions.
            (11) In 2000, the Navy reported that it had used 1,862 tons 
        of ordnance annually in training exercises on Vieques from 1983 
        to 1998.
            (12) In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
        Year 2001, Congress directed the Navy to close its facilities 
        in western Vieques and to transfer approximately 4,000 acres of 
        that property to the Municipality of Vieques, approximately 
        3,100 acres to the Department of the Interior, and 
        approximately 800 acres to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust.
            (13) In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
        Year 2002, Congress authorized the Navy to close its training 
        facilities on eastern Vieques if equivalent training facilities 
        were made available elsewhere and directed the Navy, upon 
        closure, to transfer the nearly 15,000 acres of that property 
        to the Department of the Interior.
            (14) In January 2003, the Navy certified to Congress that 
        alternative training sites had been identified and confirmed 
        that training operations would cease on Vieques by May 2003.
            (15) The Navy continues to be responsible for administering 
        and funding the cleanup of munitions and contamination that 
        resulted from its past activities on Vieques, subject to 
        oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 
        Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, an agency of the 
        government of Puerto Rico.
            (16) Following the closure of the Navy's facilities in 
        2003, public concerns were raised as to how funding for the 
        cleanup of Vieques would be prioritized among the hundreds of 
        other contaminated military installations in the United States 
        for which the Navy is responsible.
            (17) Factors motivating these concerns included the safety 
        risks from explosives in munitions that had accumulated over 
        decades of live-fire training, and the potential human health 
        and ecological risks from contaminants that may have leached 
        from munitions and other hazardous wastes into the environment.
            (18) In February 2005, EPA listed Vieques on the National 
        Priorities List (NPL) of the most hazardous sites in the United 
        States, elevating its priority for federally-funded cleanup.
            (19) The NPL site listing includes the former Vieques Naval 
        Training Range in eastern Vieques and the former Naval 
        Ammunition Support Detachment in western Vieques, as well as 
        off-shore areas where munitions may have entered the water 
        during past training exercises.
            (20) As of August 2010, the Navy had recovered and 
        destroyed 34,642 live munitions on Vieques.
            (21) Through the end of Fiscal Year 2009, the Navy had 
        spent a total of $120.4 million to support the cleanup of its 
        former facilities on Vieques, and had estimated that an 
        additional $269.9 million would be needed from Fiscal Year 2010 
        into the future to complete all planned cleanup actions.
            (22) The Navy has estimated that remedial actions to clean 
        up unexploded ordnance, other discarded munitions, and 
        munitions constituents will not be completed until Fiscal Year 
        2020, and has estimated that the entire cleanup of Vieques will 
        not be completed until Fiscal Year 2045.
            (23) Although cleanup efforts are underway on Vieques, 
        island residents have continued to express concern about the 
        health impacts from long-term exposure to environmental 
        contamination as a result of decades of Navy operations on 
        Vieques.
            (24) In 2007, after exhausting their administrative 
        remedies, over 7,000 residents of Vieques brought a lawsuit 
        against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act 
        (FTCA), seeking monetary compensation for damages to their 
        health that they claimed were caused by exposure to 
        contamination resulting from past Navy operations.
            (25) The residents of Vieques have based their tort claims 
        on EPA-documented past violations by the Navy of Clean Water 
        Act discharge permit requirements and other environmental 
        statutes; findings by independent researchers who have 
        attributed elevated levels of contaminants on Vieques to 
        decades of Navy operations; insufficient notification by the 
        Navy of the release of these contaminants into the environment; 
        and higher rates of occurrence of certain diseases among 
        residents of Vieques, including cancer, cirrhosis, 
        hypertension, and diabetes, as reported by numerous 
        researchers.
            (26) The residents of Vieques originally filed their claims 
        in the United States District Court for the District of 
        Columbia, which subsequently transferred those claims to the 
        United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
            (27) In July 2009, the United States filed a motion to 
        dismiss the claims based on a lack of subject matter 
        jurisdiction under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 
        asserting that the Navy's training activities on Vieques fell 
        within the Act's ``discretionary function exception'', which is 
        generally intended to prevent the United States from being held 
        liable for the performance of actions involved in carrying out 
        the role of the Federal Government and which immunizes the 
        United States for acts or omissions of its employees that 
        involve policy decisions, even when such decisions cause harm 
        to United States Citizens.
            (28) In March 2010, a district court judge in the United 
        States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, in a 
        brief sympathetic to the people of Vieques, nonetheless granted 
        the United States' motion to dismiss based on lack of subject 
        matter jurisdiction, without ruling on the merits of 
        plaintiffs' substantive claims.
            (29) Plaintiffs have appealed that decision to the United 
        States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and such appeal 
        is currently pending.
            (30) In a report published in November 2009, the Puerto 
        Rico Cancer Registry, then a part of the Puerto Rico Department 
        of Health, found elevated levels of various cancers among 
        residents of Vieques relative to cancer levels in mainland 
        Puerto Rico.
            (31) Numerous other non-Federal studies of Vieques in the 
        last 2 decades have found elevated levels of contaminants in 
        the hair samples of Vieques residents, as well as in the 
        island's soil, food supply, and water.
            (32) A 1999 study conducted by Dr. Colon de Jorge reported 
        that 34 percent of the residents of the island of Vieques, 
        Puerto Rico, have toxic levels of mercury in their blood 
        stream, 55 percent are contaminated with lead, 69 percent are 
        contaminated with arsenic, 69 percent are contaminated with 
        cadmium, 90 percent are contaminated with aluminum, and 93 
        percent are contaminated with antimony.
            (33) A February 2001 analysis by Carmen Ortiz Roque, MD., 
        M.P.H., M.S. reported that the residents of the island of 
        Vieques, Puerto Rico, when compared to the inhabitants of the 
        main island of Puerto Rico, are suffering with 30 percent 
        higher rates of cancer, 381 percent higher rates of 
        hypertension, 95 percent higher rates of cirrhosis of the 
        liver, and 41 percent higher rates of diabetes.
            (34) Such analysis also reported that the infant mortality 
        rate on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, when compared to 
        infants born on the main island of Puerto Rico, is 25 percent 
        higher.
            (35) The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
        (ATSDR) conducted a series of Public Health Assessments on 
        Vieques from 2001 through 2003, examining the potential for 
        human exposure to contaminants through the air, soil, drinking 
        water supplies and groundwater, and consumption of fish and 
        shellfish, and issued a finding of ``No Apparent Public Health 
        Hazard'' for each of these pathways.
            (36) The ATSDR's analytic methods and findings with respect 
        to Vieques have been subject to criticism.
            (37) Critics of ATSDR's methods and findings include Dr. 
        John P. Wargo, the Chair of the Yale College Environmental 
        Studies Program and an expert in assessing human exposure to 
        hazardous substances.
            (38) Dr. Wargo, in his 2009 book entitled ``Green 
        Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human 
        Health'', expressed the view that the Federal Government has 
        yet to conduct a ``scientifically defensible study'' with 
        respect to environmental contamination on Vieques and its 
        possible health effects on the island's residents.
            (39) Various non-Federal researchers who have studied 
        Vieques in recent years have concluded that environmental 
        contamination levels are higher than the ATSDR has reported, 
        that the potential health hazards are therefore likely to be 
        greater overall than the ATSDR has found, and that there is a 
        more definitive link between the Navy's past activities and the 
        various health problems that have been cited by the island's 
        residents.
            (40) In March 2009, the House Committee on Science and 
        Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held 
        a hearing in which members of the Subcommittee questioned the 
        ATSDR's findings about Vieques, raising questions about the 
        manner in which ATSDR conducted its Public Health Assessments 
        and the accuracy of the conclusions reached by the agency.
            (41) In the summer of 2009, ATSDR indicated that it would 
        re-examine its prior findings in order to determine whether the 
        available evidence revealed a greater risk of human exposure to 
        contamination than previously understood.
            (42) In a November 2009 progress report, ATSDR announced 
        that it expected to ``change some of its earlier conclusions 
        regarding the safety of environmental exposures on Vieques''.
            (43) ATSDR further announced in its November 2009 progress 
        report that it expected: to recommend biomonitoring to 
        determine whether persons living on Vieques have been exposed 
        to harmful chemicals, and, if so, at what levels those 
        chemicals may be in their bodies; to work with health officials 
        from Puerto Rico to conduct more in-depth evaluation of health 
        outcomes; to work with community members and health officials 
        from Puerto Rico to issue science-based, precautionary 
        recommendations to protect public health; and to work with 
        partners in Puerto Rico's health care community to encourage 
        improved access to health care for residents of Vieques.
            (44) In a February 2008 letter to the Governor of Puerto 
        Rico, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama stated that his 
        Administration would ``closely monitor the health of the people 
        of Vieques and promote appropriate remedies to health 
        conditions caused by military activities conducted by the U.S. 
        Navy on Vieques'' and ``work to evaluate and expand the 
        existing land use plan for the former U.S. Navy lands to 
        prioritize improving the lives of the Island's residents and 
        the sustainable economic development of the people of 
        Vieques''.
            (45) The March 2011 Report by the President's Task Force on 
        Puerto Rico's Status stated that ``better health care 
        facilities are an urgent need for the people of Vieques,'' 
        recommended that ``HHS should work closely with the governments 
        of Puerto Rico and Vieques to improve the quality of health 
        care for the residents of Vieques,'' and concluded that ``a 
        needs assessment should be completed to identify the most 
        effective and efficient way to ensure that the people of 
        Vieques receive the care, including expertise in environmental 
        medicine, that they need''.
            (46) The March 2011 Report by the President's Task Force on 
        Puerto Rico's Status further stated that ``there is much that 
        the Federal Government can do to improve the quality of life 
        for the people of Vieques''.

SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF A SPECIALTY HOSPITAL AND TOXINS RESEARCH 
              CENTER.

    (a) In General.--The President, in consultation with the Puerto 
Rico College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Puerto 
Rico, Surgeon General of the Navy, Director of the National Institutes 
of Health, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and other 
appropriate agencies (as determined by the President), shall acquire or 
convert real property located within the Municipality of Vieques for 
the purpose of constructing a specialty hospital and toxins research 
center that--
            (1) with respect to the specialty hospital, provides 
        treatment for the sick and injured, including treatment of 
        illnesses and diseases that are prevalent in the Municipality 
        of Vieques, such as cancer, hypertension, and heavy metals 
        poisoning; and
            (2) with respect to the toxins research center--
                    (A) studies the existence and prevalence of toxins 
                in the Municipality of Vieques and the impact of such 
                toxins on plant, animal, and human life;
                    (B) provides specific recommendations to the local 
                government and residents of the Municipality of Vieques 
                regarding the prevention of exposure to harmful levels 
                of toxins in air, water, and food supplies; and
                    (C) coordinates research activities and shares 
                findings on an ongoing basis with medical personnel at 
                the hospital constructed pursuant to this subsection.
    (b) Operations.--The President, or his designee, shall operate and 
maintain the quality of the hospital and research center described in 
subsection (a) on a continuing basis. In operating such hospital and 
research center, the President, or his designee, shall consider the 
needs of the residents of the Municipality of Vieques, taking into 
account the chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals used by 
the Department of the Navy on the island of Vieques and the potential 
health impacts associated with use of such weapons, chemicals, and 
metals.
    (c) Partnerships.--The President, or his designee, shall encourage 
partnerships with research universities for the purpose of building 
interest in researching--
            (1) the many health problems experienced by the residents 
        of the Municipality of Vieques; and
            (2) the long-term effect that the use of the weapons, 
        chemicals, and heavy metals described in subsection (b) may 
        have on such residents.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), there are 
        authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to 
        carry out the provisions of this section.
            (2) Limitation of appropriations.--The President may not 
        carry out the provisions of this section or section 4 until the 
        administrative claims filed on May 18, 2009, by the Mayor of 
        the Municipality of Vieques for money damages against the 
        Department of the Navy have been settled or compromised 
        pursuant to section 2672 of title 28, United States Code.

SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL 
              INTERAGENCY PLAN FOR THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIEQUES.

    (a) Federal Interagency Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the President shall develop a 
        comprehensive Federal interagency plan to ensure that the 
        residents of the Municipality of Vieques benefit from improved 
        access to Federal programs, Federal discretionary funding 
        sources, and Federal agency technical assistance.
            (2) Plan contents.--The Federal interagency plan described 
        in paragraph (1) shall include--
                    (A) a timeline, if appropriate, for the 
                implementation of any specific recommendations, with 
                respect to the island of Vieques, provided by the 
                President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status;
                    (B) additional specific recommendations and 
                instructions to Federal agencies to utilize resources 
                within their existing authority to assist the people of 
                the Municipality of Vieques in more expeditiously 
                achieving their own economic development, education, 
                environmental, infrastructure, health care, and 
                community goals, including a specific plan under which 
                the Federal Government shall convey to the Municipality 
                all lands that are administered by the Secretary of the 
                Interior as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
                and are determined by the Administrator of the 
                Environmental Protection Agency to be appropriate to be 
                placed under control of the Municipality; and
                    (C) a requirement for the development of and 
                entering into memoranda of understandings between the 
                Municipality and individual Federal agencies for the 
                purpose of specifically defining duties and 
                responsibilities with regard to the implementation of 
                such plan.
    (b) Appointment of Ombudsman.--
            (1) In general.--The President shall appoint a Federal 
        ombudsman for the Municipality of Vieques who shall monitor the 
        development and implementation of the Federal interagency plan 
        described in subsection (a).
            (2) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
        completion of the Federal interagency plan described in 
        subsection (a), the Federal ombudsman shall submit to Congress 
        a report that includes--
                    (A) a status update on the implementation of such 
                plan; and
                    (B) recommendations for optimizing the impact of 
                such plan.

SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES FOR CERTAIN 
              RESIDENTS OF THE ISLAND OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO.

    (a) In General.--An individual shall be awarded $10,000 for a claim 
made under this section if such individual--
            (1) can demonstrate that he or she was a resident on the 
        island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, during or after the Department 
        of the Navy's usage of chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and 
        heavy metals for military training operations on the island; 
        and
            (2) filed a claim on or before the date of the enactment of 
        this Act against the United States Government for personal 
        injury, including illness or death arising from such usage of 
        such weapons, chemicals, and metals.
    (b) Additional Award Amounts Related to Specified Diseases.--Any 
individual who--
            (1) meets the requirements under subsection (a); and
            (2) submits written medical documentation that he or she 
        contracted a specified disease during or after the Department 
        of the Navy's usage of chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and 
        heavy metals for military training operations on the island of 
        Vieques, Puerto Rico,
shall, in addition to the amount awarded under subsection (a), be 
awarded $50,000 (in the case of an individual who is diagnosed with 1 
such disease), $80,000 (in the case of an individual who is diagnosed 
with 2 such diseases), or $110,000 (in the case of an individual who is 
diagnosed with 3 or more such diseases).
    (c) Appointment of Special Master.--The President shall appoint a 
special master to resolve expeditiously any disputes between the 
Attorney General and an individual with respect to the determination of 
an award under this section.
    (d) Guidance.--The Attorney General may use as guidance the 
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101-426) and any 
regulation prescribed to interpret, implement, or administer such Act--
            (1) in determining whether a claim filed under this section 
        meets the requirements of this section;
            (2) to establish procedures whereby individuals may submit 
        claims for payments under this section; and
            (3) for any other reason that the Attorney General 
        determines that such guidance is necessary, except that the 
        provisions of chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code 
        (relating to settlements and compromises of claims), shall 
        apply to claims cognizable under this section.
    (e) Source of Award.--A payment of an award made to an individual 
under this section shall be payable out of any moneys authorized for 
appropriation under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, as if 
a settlement had been entered into between claimants and the 
Government.
    (f) Release.--The acceptance by an individual of a payment of an 
award under this section shall--
            (1) be final and conclusive on the individual;
            (2) be deemed to be in full settlement of the claim 
        described in subsection (a)(2); and
            (3) constitute a complete release by the individual of such 
        claim against the United States and against any employee of the 
        United States acting in the course of his employment who is 
        involved in the matter giving rise to the claim.
    (g) Specified Disease Defined.--In this section, the term 
``specified disease'' means any disease that is life threatening, 
chronic, or is related to heavy metals toxicity.
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