PUERTO RICO
Navy Surrenders
Vieques
By Scott Edwards

Vieques, a small, fifty-two square mile island off the southeast coast of Puerto Rico is, in many ways, a typical Caribbean island, with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, eleven species of endangered and threatened animals and plants, and one of Earth’s last remaining, abundantly healthy bioluminescent bays.

It is also home to almost 10,000 men, women, and children who go to school and work and play, fish, hike, and grow fruits, crops, and livestock.

Vieques is a tropical paradise – except for one problem. For over six decades the United States Navy dropped every conceivable type of weapon on the eastern end of the island – including explosives containing cancer-causing chemicals like RDX and HMX, Agent Orange, and depleted uranium. More munitions were dropped on Vieques than at all other US military testing ranges combined. And when the Navy got tired of dropping bombs themselves, they rented out Vieques to foreign governments to test their own explosive and chemical weapons. Sadly, this was done with little regard for the island’s residents.

In the early 1970’s the island’s ground water tested positive for RDX contamination. Wells were closed and now drinking water is brought over from the main island through an underwater pipeline. EPA has confirmed heavy metal soil contamination across the east end of the island and the Puerto Rican Department of Health has documented increased cancer rates and other ailments among the island’s inhabitants.

Waterkeeper Alliance was invited to the island and filed a suit in federal court in 2000 against the Department of Defense to end the Navy’s abuse of the island and its residents. In May, 2003 the Navy finally packed its bags and left Vieques, turning the eastern half of the island over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain as the Caribbean’s largest nature reserve. Unfortunately, it left its contamination behind.

Today, the island is on the verge of being officially declared a Superfund site. The Navy would finally be forced to conduct a thorough cleanup of the island, its soils, and groundwater and restore full use of the island’s natural resources to the people of Vieques. Waterkeeper Alliance is working closely with the residents of Vieques and the University of Puerto Rico Environmental Law Clinic to ensure that the Superfund process is adhered to and the Navy lives up to its legal and moral responsibility to the people of Vieques and Puerto Rico