[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 27, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1659-E1660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE NAVY AND VIEQUES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 27, 1999

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, in April, U.S. F-18 fighter jets 
accidentally dropped two 500-pound bombs on an observation post nearly 
a mile from their target on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, killing 
a civilian and wounding four others. Although Vieques has housed a 
naval live-fire training facility for over 50 years, there are 9,300 
civilians who live on the island.

[[Page E1660]]

  The following research memorandum was authored by Rebecca Brezenoff, 
a Research Fellow with the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric 
Affairs (COHA). This timely and pertinent article investigates the 
issues and delves into the history of naval operations on the island of 
Vieques:


       Washington now finds itself embroiled in a sticky problem 
     on the little-known Puerto Rican Island of Vieques, the site 
     of one of its more perplexing public relations nightmares. 
     Recent tragic events resulting from the military's continuing 
     use of most of the heavily inhabited but relatively small 
     island as a live-weapons storage and training facility 
     present the Clinton Administration with a growing need to 
     reevaluate its policies there. The increasingly militant 
     demonstrations now being staged in Puerto Rico against the 
     Vieques facility and the unity of the Puerto Rican population 
     on the issue suggest that the problem will not go way, but 
     requires some hard decisions now.
       The island-municipality, located just off Puerto Rico's 
     southeastern coast, once again emerged into the national news 
     following its latest fatal accident in April, when two Marine 
     fighter jets on a night training run over Vieques missed 
     their mark by a mile and dropped bombs near an observation 
     post, killing a civilian security guard and injuring four 
     other people. Certainly not the first serious incident to 
     have afflicted the training facility, it is one that is 
     likely to remain in the headlines as it prompts heated debate 
     among citizen groups and government leaders, both here and in 
     Puerto Rico. For decades, civilians on the island have 
     suffered the effects of friendly fire. This time, a 
     propitious moment may be at hand for the Pentagon to review 
     its options and have the wisdom to dismantle the base.
       The Navy's primary argument in favor of Vieques' continued 
     use has been the unparalleled importance of the live-
     ammunition training grounds for military readiness. The 
     facility has been used by U.S. military personnel since 1941, 
     when the Navy expropriated more than two-thirds of the 51-
     square-mile island for weapons storage and for ordinance 
     training, involving bombings, shellings, and mock invasions.
       Vieques' usefulness is indisputable. But the Navy is not 
     the island's only tenant; a permanent community of 9,300 
     inhabitants occupies one-third of it. It would be 
     disingenuous to argue that the naval presence is not 
     detrimental to the lives and livelihoods of the local 
     population. Far from it. This week, the Navy admitted, after 
     years of denials, to dropping 24 napalm bombs on Vieques in 
     1993. In February of this year, depleted uranium (believed to 
     be linked to Gulf War Syndrome) was illegally discharged by 
     Marine jets during a training exercise. On an island plagued 
     by a cancer rate significantly higher than that of Puerto 
     Rico, the firing of radioactive shells--only a fifth of which 
     were actually recovered during ``cleanup''--has not inspired 
     confidence in the Navy's pledge of enhanced attention to 
     safety. Nor is the local populace reassured by current plans 
     to install a powerful anti-drug trafficking radar system, 
     whose electromagnetic waves would be capable of reaching the 
     mainland of South America.
       Faced with encroaching environmental damage, stunted 
     economic development due to declines in the fishing and 
     tourism industries, crushing unemployment, the constant 
     pounding of heavy artillery and the drone of low-flying 
     aircraft, damage to building caused by vibrations from war 
     games, and the ongoing danger of bombing accidents from ships 
     and planes, Viequenses have been both figuratively and 
     literally raked by all branches of the military. And not just 
     the U.S. military. The participation of foreign armed forces 
     as well as commercial entities has been solicited--even via 
     advertisements on the Navy's website--for a price. The fees 
     collected in 1998 alone amounted to $80 million, but the 
     increased bombing volume further strained the island's 
     economy and worsened living conditions.
       For all the Navy's purported efforts to be a good neighbor 
     to the Viequenses, it words and deeds are today viewed with 
     mistrust. Assurances that the accidentally discharged 
     depleted uranium and the electromagnetic frequencies of the 
     powerful anti-drug trafficking radar pose no threat to human 
     health are dismissed as inaccurate, if not deliberately 
     misleading. Shortly after the mid-May announcement that the 
     Navy would be returning a portion of its land on Vieques to 
     civilian jurisdiction, a fisherman found a 12-foot torpedo 
     near the island's main town. Even the U.S. panel recently 
     established to conduct a thorough study of the Navy's 
     presence on Vieques is seen by skeptics as weighted toward 
     the armed forces--only one of its four members comes from a 
     civilian background. The unfortunate combination of military 
     mistakes and miscalculations, together with questionable 
     judgments and belated admissions, has created for the U.S. 
     authorities a situation as ominous as the unexploded bombs 
     and missiles that often appear on the beaches of Vieques. 
     With the integrity of the inquiry already called into 
     question, Washington will face the difficult task of 
     defending any decision that falls short of completely phasing 
     out the facility.
       Short of the forced relocation of over 9,000 people, no 
     modification to the current program can adequately safeguard 
     the residents of Vieques, whereas locating a viable 
     substitute--an unoccupied island--and installing a new 
     training facility, while difficult and costly, remains 
     feasible. The Pentagon has had to reject plans for bases in 
     other locations for such reasons as proximity to population 
     centers and the periodic presence of federally protected 
     migratory birds. Regardless of the recommendations due in 
     August from the commission examine future military use of the 
     island, the White House cannot allow itself to give any less 
     consideration to Vieques' population. Continued live-ordnance 
     target practice on a heavily inhabited island is 
     indefensible, and it is time for the 60-year practice to end.

     

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