Roosevelt Roads (PR) Closure

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Roosevelt Roads' Closure Worries Locals

Thousands who relied on the Puerto Rican base for their livelihoods fear
the future.

By Ray Quintanilla
Orlando Sentinel
March 31, 2004

CEIBA, Puerto Rico -- Today's swift closing of Roosevelt Roads Naval
Station -- once one of the largest U.S. Navy facilities in the world --
is leaving thousands of people struggling to find jobs and local
officials with little more than questions about the future.

All they know for certain: After today Roosevelt Roads is no more. Left
behind is a deep-water harbor surrounded by 8,600 acres of land, part of
which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is polluted with a
brew of dangerous chemicals from six decades of military use.

Gone are the 3,000 active-duty sailors and 3,850 civilian jobs -- along
with about $250 million a year that the base pumped into the local economy.

...

For the entire story, see
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/caribbean/orl-asecroosevelt31033104mar31,0,3870257.story?coll=sfla-news-caribbean




--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org