[CPEO-MEF] Vieques (PR) ordnance cleanup

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Ridding Vieques of bombs a perilous task

ANDREW O. SELSKY
Associated Press/San Jose Mercury News
February 4, 2007

VIEQUES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Puerto Rico - One misstep on this 
former U.S. Navy bombing range can be fatal.

For decades, warships and planes hammered the Naval Training Range on 
Vieques with live rounds before it was closed in April 2003 after years 
of protests against the danger and the din - leaving thousands of 
unexploded bombs, rockets, cluster bombs and other munitions lurking 
under dense foliage.

About 110 contract workers are now cleaning up the site on Vieques, a 
speck of land with 9,000 residents eight miles east of Puerto Rico's 
main island. It is dangerous work, requiring concentration, keen 
eyesight and nerves of steel.

The Navy began war maneuvers on Vieques in 1948 after expropriating land 
and paying as little as $53 an acre, subjecting those who live on the 
rest of the island to thunderous, window-rattling blasts. Marines 
practiced amphibious landings, supported by warplanes and ships.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/16622647.htm

--


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


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