[CPEO-MEF] Vieques update

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The Navy's June announcement that it would halt the bombing of Vieques,
by May 2003, without the scheduled November, 2001 referendum on the
question may not hold water. The referendum is still required by law,
and it is unlikely that either the Defense Authorization Act or any
stand-alone legislation on the topic will be enacted before the election
is supposed to take place.

The Bush Administration is reportedly offering language to implement the
Navy's decision. - that is, to terminate the use of Vieques as a
training range without a referendum. It's quite possible that this
language will be included in the Senate Defense bill, but even if the
Senate prevails in conference committee, it's hard to see how it could
be enacted before the Vieques election machinery gets set into motion.

The House Armed Services Committee is also likely to recommend that
there be no vote, but its other provisions are likely to challenge the
Navy/White House position. The Republican leadership of that committee
is likely to report language, in the Defense Authorization Bill, that would:

1) cancel the referendum,

2) allow the Navy to shut down training on Vieques only if it first
finds an equal or superior substitute training location in the Atlantic
area, 

and 3) if training is halted, require that the Navy retain ownership of
the east side of the island for use in a national emergency.

While the Navy would own the property, the Interior Department would
manage the live impact area as a wilderness area, with no public access,
and the remainder of the property as an undeveloped wildlife refuge.

Because it is probably too late to cancel the referendum, proponents of
the House legislation probably would have to abandon the second point. 

However, the third element of the legislation could take effect no
matter when the legislation is enacted. That is, the Navy could stop
using eastern Vieques but the use of the property, by the Viequenses,
could be severely restricted - above and beyond what is necessary to
protect habitat and wildlife. The Navy would probably argue that it has
no obligation to clean up the live impact area, which would be
considered an "inactive" range available for future bombing.

Opponents of the Navy's continued use of Vieques are expected to contest
the Committee's proposal on the House floor. Still, at this point it
would make much more sense for Congress to consider ways to promote
cleanup and the proper management of the natural resources on eastern
Vieques than to re-argue the Navy's need to continue training there.

Finally, the Navy is seriously exploring alternatives to the continued
use of VIeques.  It's likely to spread the different elements of the
Vieques training experience to a number of existing ranges, and it may
even drop some aspects of Vieques exercises that may prove irrelevant in
future conflicts.

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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