[CPEO-MEF] Vieques open detonation

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
P.O. Box 1424
Vieques, Puerto Rico  00765
bieke@prorescatevieques.org

10 June, 2006
Press Release

Navy detonates 20 tons of explosives in Vieques

The (CRDV) denounced that the US Navy continues dispersing into the 
island environment large quantities of contaminants with serious health 
implications.  Military officials informed last Thursday during a public 
meeting the Navy has detonated over 20 tons of explosives in Vieques in 
recent months, including 1046 munitions of up to two thousand pounds, 
495 of which were classified as 'high explosives'.

Fishermen and other boaters have seen and felt the powerful explosions 
and the dust clouds sent high into the air by the blasts that, according 
to the Navy, are part of their environmental clean up process.

The community's scientific advisor, Dr. Jorge Colón, presented evidence 
at the meeting showing how toxics produced by the explosions move 
directly toward the populated areas of the island.

"The agencies charged with environmental and health protection have been 
totally irresponsible in the face of this new military threat as they 
were in the past," expressed CRDV  spokespersons.

According to Puerto Rico Health Department documents from 2005, Vieques 
has greater incidence of cancer, cancer mortality and risks of getting 
cancer that the rest of Puerto Rico.  The Viequenses described as 
“criminal” the Navy’s actions and repudiated the complicity on the part 
of both Puerto Rico and federal agencies.

The meeting of the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) took place last 
Thursday at the Vieques lighthouse and lasted more that four hours.  The 
RAB is a federally mandated entity designed to allow community 
participation in the clean up process at closed and contaminated 
military facilities.  The RAB includes members of the community, 
representatives of the Navy, the US Environmental Protection Agency, US 
Fish and Wildlife Service (now in control of ex Navy lands), the Puerto 
Rico Environmental Quality Board, CH2M HILL (company contracted by the 
Navy for the clean up), and the Vieques Municipal Government.

Community members of the RAB criticized the continuation of the 
detonations and reminded Navy officials and other agency representatives 
that in the previous meeting they demanded a stop to the explosions due 
to problems in the monitoring system designed to detect particulates 
that could be air transported to the civilian sector.



--
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
http://www.cpeo.org

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