United States Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico

The United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

used Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands...

for naval training and testing from 1941 to May 1, 2003.

Some current studies show drastic increases in health problems which may or may not be related to toxic materials left on Vieques from the Navy’s occupation. The people of Vieques demand the U.S. clean up the toxic materials they left behind, but the Navy argues that residents of Vieques have not been negatively affected by the 60-year occupation, and that data showing high cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

rates, high infant mortality

Infant mortality

Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...

, vibroacoustic disease, and radiation contamination is "misguided" . Whether or not the U.S. should be forced to further clean up the island still remains an issue.

Expropriation

At the outbreak of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

the U.S. envisioned Vieques as a naval base. The U.S. government originally bought a section of Vieques to help prepare troops for war. Vieques seemed perfect for training because it lay outside of commercial transportation lines, therefore allowing ships and aircraft to practice realistically, and thus increase combat effectiveness . However, after the attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

, investing in a small base in the middle of the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

did not seem tactically justified .

From 1941 to 1942 the U.S. Navy expropriated 22,000 acres (89 km², 8,900 hectares) of Vieques’ 33,000 acres (130 km²). At first it did not appear as though the Navy would return to the island as a strong presence, but with the onset of the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

, the U.S. switched from a policy of disarmament to a policy of “permanent armed competition” . By 1963 the Navy’s holdings totaled 22,600 acres (91.5 km²) — about 70% of the island .

In 1947 the Navy announced its desire to use Vieques for training. In 1948 bombing exercise began, and then continued for the next 55 years . The eastern half of Vieques was used for bombing practices, and the western half was used for weapons storage .

Protests against U.S. Navy

The "Navy–Vieques protests" is the name given by the English-speaking

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

to a series of protests starting in 1999 on the Puerto Rican

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

island-municipality

Municipalities of Puerto Rico

The Municipalities of Puerto Rico number 78 and they make up the smallest electoral division of the Commonwealth. Each municipality is divided into barrios, though the latter are not vested with political authority.-Administrative divisions:...

of Vieques

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Vieques , in full Isla de Vieques, is an island–municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands...

. The protesters were against the use of the island by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

and United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

for bombing target practice. The protests led to the U.S. military ending the use of its facilities on the island.

In 1999, the death of David Sanes

David Sanes

David Sanes Rodríguez was a native of Vieques, Puerto Rico whose death became a rallying point for those opposed to the U.S. military presence on and use of his home island for live-fire bombing practice...

triggered the protests. Sanes' death, and the wave of protests that followed, resulted in a promise, made by then U.S. President Clinton and reiterated by his successor George W. Bush, that the Navy would leave Vieques by May 2003.

On November 17, 2002, Milivi Adams

Milivi Adams

Milivi Adams was a young cancer patient from the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico who had become a symbol in the battle against the presence of the military on that island...

, a little girl native of Vieques, died as a consequence of her cancer

Cancer

. Her death became a symbol in the battle against the military presence on the island.

The death of David Sanes, protests begin

On April 19, 1999 Vieques native David Sanes was killed by a bomb dropped by a USMC jet during bombing target practices. A civilian employee of the Navy, Sanes was on duty at a military observation point when two bombs fell 1.5 miles (2.5 km) away from their designated target. One of them fell 30 feet (10 m) away from Sanes, killing him instantly.

After the tragic event, Puerto Ricans from all over the world started protesting against the target practices. Their most common act of protest was occupying the bombing grounds with some of the protesters camping there.

Encampments

A few months later, small wooden structures were erected inside the practice grounds, and encampments from all over the island-municipality started to attract attention.

By that time, the protests had also started to gain international attention, and people from all over the world joined the struggle. Many celebrities, including the political leader Ruben Berrios

Rubén Berríos

Rubén Ángel Berríos Martínez is a lawyer, a Puerto Rican politician, and the current president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party...

, singers Danny Rivera

Danny Rivera

Danny Rivera is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who was born in San Juan whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is well-known in Puerto Rico for his political activism.-Musical career:...

, Robi "Draco" Rosa and Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

, boxer Félix 'Tito' Trinidad

Félix Trinidad

Félix 'Tito' Trinidad, Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional boxer, considered one of the best in Puerto Rico's history. After winning five National Amateur Championships in Puerto Rico, he debuted as a professional when he was 17. He won his first world championship when he defeated Maurice Blocker...

, writers Ana Lydia Vega

Ana Lydia Vega

Ana Lydia Vega is a celebrated Puerto Rican female writer. She has received the Premio Juan Rulfo and the Premio Casa de las Américas . Vega was a professor of French literature and Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras...

and Giannina Braschi

Giannina Braschi

Giannina Braschi is a Puerto Rican writer. She is credited with writing the first Spanglish novel YO-YO BOING! and the poetry trilogy Empire of Dreams , which chronicles the Latin American immigrant's experiences in the United States...

, American actor Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos

Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...

and Guatemala's Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú

Rigoberta Menchú Tum is an indigenous Guatemalan, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War , and to promoting indigenous rights in the country...

supported the cause, as did Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. is an American radio host, activist, and attorney specializing in environmental law. He is the third of eleven children born to Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy and is the nephew of John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy...

, Al Sharpton

Al Sharpton

Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...

, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

once said that he wanted peace for Vieques. The Archbishop of San Juan, Roberto González Nieves

Roberto González Nieves

Roberto Octavio González Nieves, OFM is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Puerto Rico and the current Archbishop of San Juan.-Early life and education:...

, was heavily involved in the protests that took place in the municipality. He managed to put together a coalition of different Puerto Rican church leaders that gathered international attention. Olmos, Sharpton and Kennedy also served jail time; while serving his prison term in Puerto Rico, Kennedy's wife Mary gave birth to the couple's sixth child, a son they named Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy.

The Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores (MST) held a series of incursions into the bombing ranges to halt the bombing without being arrested, and a few of them were successful in that second objective.

Massive occupation of practice range

On May 4, 2000, civil disobedience encampments inside the practice grounds were evacuated by U.S. Marshals

United States Marshals Service

The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...

and Marines

United States Marine Corps

.

Five days later, in an internationally covered event, hundreds of protesters and supporters from all over the world and with different ideologies, penetrated the military practice grounds. Natives of Vieques, many Puerto Ricans, Hollywood celebrities, priests, pastors, friars, athletes, and politicians (including U.S. Representatives Luis Gutiérrez

Luis Gutiérrez

Luis Vicente Gutiérrez is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. Gutiérrez was the first Latino to be elected to Congress from the Midwest. From 1986 until his election to Congress he served as a member of the Chicago City Council representing the 26th ward...

and Nydia Velázquez

Nydia Velázquez

Nydia Margarita Velázquez is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes residential areas of three boroughs...

) were among them. The incursion had been well publicized and resulted in the arrest of the protesters by Marshals, as both sides of the struggle wanted to avoid brushes with the military.

With non-violence as the main objective of the protests, the protesters behaved in a peaceful manner upon their arrest, shouting "Paz para Vieques" ("Peace for Vieques"). Others sang themes related to peace or religion. A few had to be removed by force but didn't offer physical resistance or insult the officials. Many protesters were set free a few hours after being jailed, others were released a few days later. Only a few had sentences imposed that lasted between one and six months. The official charge was trespassing on U.S. military territory.

Incursions continue, protests come to an end

With the continuation of bombing practices by the U.S. Navy, incursions to the practice grounds continued, until an official announcement by the U.S. government stating that the military would be leaving the island in May 2003.

On March 31, 2004, the United States closed its Roosevelt Roads Naval Station

Roosevelt Roads Naval Station

Roosevelt Roads Naval Station is a former United States military air base in the town of Ceiba, Puerto Rico. The site is run today as José Aponte de la Torre Airport, a public use airport.-History:...

on mainland Puerto Rico. A skeleton staff of 200, down from approximately 1,200 civilian and 700 military personnel, stayed on at the facility until the transfer of the property was completed. The closure of the base at Roosevelt Roads resulted in a substantial financial loss to the economy of Puerto Rico that the Navy estimates at $250 million a year. Admiral Robert J. Natter

Robert J. Natter

Admiral Robert Joseph Natter is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as Commander, U.S. Atlantic Fleet/Fleet Forces Command from 2000 to 2003.-Military career:...

, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, is on record as saying: "Without Vieques there is no way I need the Navy facilities at Roosevelt Roads — none. It's a drain on Defense Department and taxpayer dollars."

Nevertheless, the government of Puerto Rico has announced that the airport at the base will be reopened, and will become a major Caribbean air cargo hub, relieving Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located in Carolina, Puerto Rico, three miles southeast of San Juan. Over 4 million passengers board a plane at the airport per year according to FAA reports . It is owned and managed by the Puerto Rico Ports...

and extending its useful life indefinitely without the need for property expansion. It will also be used to centralize general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

activities now dispersed over several municipal airports, saving the Puerto Rico Ports Authority

Puerto Rico Ports Authority

The Puerto Rico Ports Authority is a public corporation created by the Legislative Assembly of the United States' Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to develop and operate ports and airports within the Commonwealth...

significant sums of money on maintenance and other costs. Other plans are in motion to make use of other sections of the former base to benefit the local economy. A large portion of the undeveloped land in the property is being set aside for ecological preservation.

Consequences

In 2003 the U.S. military began moving out of Vieques. On May 1, 2003 at 12:01 AM EST, the official military withdrawal took effect. Part of the past bombing practice grounds now became the property of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service

Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Natural Resources Conservation Service , formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service , is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.Its name was changed in 1994 during the Presidency of...

(NRCS), some that of the Department of the Interior, and the remaining part was given to the government of Vieques.

Further protests

On April 30, 2003 many supporters of the Cause of Vieques traveled to the island-municipality to hold a celebration inside the past bombing practice grounds. The event was recorded by national TV news. On May 1, 2003, the crowd entered the former bombing range en masse. Their celebration turned aggressive, in contrast to the peaceful protests held by some of them a few months earlier.

The Police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

Task force

A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...

of Puerto Rico was mobilized from the main island, as were the Police of Vieques, and other previously mobilized law enforcement officials, who were unprepared for the now-violent celebration.

The President of the Teachers Federation of Puerto Rico and a leader of the cause was recorded by TV cameras engaging in violent and destructive behavior. The crowd destroyed a former Navy guard-house and military trucks with drop hammers.

The TV footage was used as evidence to criminally indict the vandals, as the property destroyed was now owned by the NRCS.

Those indicted said that their behavior was caused by the resentment and bitterness that had accumulated from the decades of suffering due to the Navy's bombing practices on the island. Norma Burgos

Norma Burgos

Norma E. Burgos Andújar is a Puerto Rican politician. She has been a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico since 2000. She also served as the 17th Secretary of State under Governor Pedro Rosselló .-Early years and studies:...

, a Senator of Puerto Rico, who had formerly been imprisoned for trespassing on the bombing range several months earlier, justified the behavior by comparing it to the fall of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's statue in the recent invasion of Iraq

2003 invasion of Iraq

The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

— in which U.S. soldiers used an Army tank (a property of the U.S. government) to tear it down. Their defense failed, and more than a dozen of those charged were imprisoned for “damages and destruction of public property.”

Military withdraws

Due to years of protests from the people of Vieques, in 2001 the Navy left western Vieques, which had been used as an ammunition depot. Now the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...

controls 3,100 acres (13 km²) of this land — about half of the formerly owned military property. Over the course of U.S. Navy occupancy, nearly 22 million pounds (10,000 tonnes) of military and industrial waste, such as oils, solvents, lubricants, lead paint, acid and 55 US gallon (200 L) drums, were deposited on the western portion of the island. As cited by McCaffrey, according to the Universidad Metropolitana, the extent of leaching is unknown. In 2005 the Navy was investigating 17 potentially contaminated sites .

On May 1, 2003 the Navy finished turning over all of its lands to the U.S. Department of the Interior. This included the Navy’s entire eastern portion of the island — 14,573 acres (58.97 km²) — which was mainly used as a dumping ground . McCaffrey cites data from the U.S. Navy:

Vieques was bombed an average of 180 days per year. In 1998, the last year before protests interrupted maneuvers, the Navy dropped 23,000 bombs on the island, the majority of which contained explosives .

The live impact range, which is the most contaminated zone, was given the highest protected environmental status — that of a “wilderness preserve.” The Fish and Wildlife Service boasts that Vieques Wildlife Refuge is an ecologically diverse Caribbean wildlife refuge

Wildlife refuge

A wildlife refuge, also called a wildlife sanctuary, may be a naturally occurring sanctuary, such as an island, that provides protection for species from hunting, predation or competition, or it may refer to a protected area, a geographic territory within which wildlife is protected...

. However, the Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

(“EPA”) has declared the refuge a superfund site. Much of the lands are now termed wildlife refuges, meaning that humans are not allowed on the land, therefore allowing the Navy to avoid cleanup. Whether or not the U.S. made the land a wildlife refuge strictly to avoid cleaning up the island is still debated .

Contamination and health effects

A survey by the Puerto Rico Health Department revealed that the cancer rate in Vieques is 27% higher than mainland Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

. In a federal lawsuit, Vieques’ environmental groups and residents accused the Navy of causing “more damage than any other single actor in the history of Puerto Rico” . The prosecutors claimed that the Navy’s activities contaminated much of the eastern portion of the island with a wide range of toxic substances. As cited by Franciscans International, according to the Navy’s figures, throughout the course of six decades about 5 million pounds (2,000 t) of ordnance was dropped on Vieques every year. Ordnance included toxic compounds and elements such as arsenic

Arsenic

Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...

, lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

, mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

, cadmium

Cadmium

Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low...

, depleted uranium

Depleted uranium

Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...

and napalm

Napalm

Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...

, and tons of a fiberglass-like substance. Most of these toxins are persistent, meaning that they bioaccumulate .

For decades environmentalists have complained that contaminants from naval exercises have spread to other parts of the island though the air, water, and soil. The people of Vieques live downwind from where the bombing was done; thus toxins that can be airborne — such as DU — could easily come in contact with civilians. Representative Charles Rangel, (United States Democratic Party, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, investigated contamination in Vieques and discovered that

“A number of studies conducted by well-qualified scientists from universities in the United States and in Puerto Rico reveal that there is a high probability that the compounds released by the Navy exercises and chemical testing created toxic levels in the environment and could be the cause of serious medical conditions affecting the people of Vieques.” .

A newspaper article reported that a study by the Puerto Rico Health Department cited high levels of heavy metals

Heavy metals

A heavy metal is a member of a loosely-defined subset of elements that exhibit metallic properties. It mainly includes the transition metals, some metalloids, lanthanides, and actinides. Many different definitions have been proposed—some based on density, some on atomic number or atomic weight,...

in plants, animals and humans; however, no study reports are available. In the 980 acre (4 km²) live impact range on the eastern tip of island, studies have shown that the ground water is contaminated by nitrates and explosives . Furthermore, unexploded weapons, ordnance, and sunken barges litter the floor of the Caribbean Sea . Testing done in the Icacos Lagoon showed concentrations of cadmium in crabs to be 1,000 times higher than the World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

's “tolerable ingestion maximum dosage.” Furthermore, toxic levels of heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, selenium, mercury and zinc, have been found in several species of fish. In the lawsuit conducted by environmentalists and the people of Vieques against the Navy, the prosecutors noted that most residents of Vieques use many of these same species of fish as a source of food . Cadmium and arsenic are carcinogenic. One study from 1999 that tested hair samples from various age groups of Vieques residents revealed that 69% were contaminated with cadmium and arsenic, and 34% had toxic levels of mercury .

Biologist Arturo Massol and radiochemist Elba Díaz conducted an unpublished study in January 2001 that showed vegetables and plants growing in the civilian area of Vieques were highly contaminated with heavy metals such as lead

Lead

, cadmium

Cadmium

and copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

. Furthermore, they discovered that metal concentrations in edible crops were both substantially above the maximum levels set by the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

Council and much higher than plants tested in mainland Puerto Rico. Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

s, pasture grasses, and squashes were more effected than plants with deeper root systems such as trees. This is consistent with the theory that heavy metals travel by air to civilian areas via the steady easterly trade winds that blow directly from the bombing zone
.

High levels of heavy metals appear to be causing increased cancer and infant mortality rates, and childhood asthma

Asthma

Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

. Mercury affects the brain, cardiovascular system, kidneys and the developing fetus . A newspaper article claims that there is a study by the Puerto Rico Health Department linked abnormally high levels of asthma in children to mercury contamination . In 2004 the infant mortality rate in Vieques was 55% higher than the other 77 municipalities in Puerto Rico—a rate of almost 20 per 1000 live births as opposed to 12.8 .

Depleted uranium

In addition to the toxic materials that the Navy had been dropping on Vieques since the 1940s, in 1999 the Navy “accidentally” fired depleted uranium bullets

Depleted uranium

Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...

("DU"). The Navy admitted to firing just 263 rounds of depleted uranium bullets but Doug Rokke, one of the world’s leading authorities on depleted uranium, contested that 263 rounds is “not even a burst of automatic gunfire.” Planes that fire depleted uranium ammunition shoot three to four thousand rounds per a minute. Based on a report by RAND

RAND

RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces by Douglas Aircraft Company. It is currently financed by the U.S. government and private endowment, corporations including the healthcare industry, universities...

, a research corporation, the U.S. Department of Defense claims DU doesn’t compromise human health. However, Dan Fahey, the Director of Research at the Gulf War Resource Center, points out that the RAND report was incomplete: it ignored 68 relevant sources that show clear relationships between DU and harm to human health . While the health effects of DU are largely unknown, it is believed to cause cancer, the phenomenon known as Gulf War Syndrome

Gulf War syndrome

Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War illness describes a medical condition that affected veterans and civilians who were near conflicts during or downwind of chemical weapons depot demolition, after the 1991 Gulf War. A wide range of acute and chronic symptoms have included fatigue, musculoskeletal...

, radiation poisoning, and respiratory problems.

Nuclear target ship

Wreckage of the USS Killen (DD593), WWII Fletcher Class Destroyer :
The veteran destroyer served as a target ship during the atom bomb tests in 1958 (Operation Hardtack I

Operation Hardtack I

Operation Hardtack I was a series of 35 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1958 in the Pacific Ocean.Operation Newsreel was a series of three high-altitude nuclear tests conducted as part of Hardtack I. The individual tests in the series were Orange‎, Teak‎ and Yucca‎.-Test Blasts:-...

, shots WAHOO and UMBRELLA), and in 1962 engaged in high explosive tests in the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

to assess the structural effects of the ship's nuclear exposures. Killen was struck from the Navy List

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

and sent to the US Naval Station at Roosevelt Roads, P.R.

Puerto Rico

in January 1963 to be used as a target ship for missile and gunnery practice off the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques where she was eventually sunk/scuttled in a shallow bay in 1975 and still lies today.

The US Navy seemed to have lost track of the ship's nuclear past and of the wreck site. A sizable portion of the ship's stern is removed by a distance of 787 feet (239.9 m) across the bay and its identity was forgotten until 2002. The Navy also seems not to have been aware as of 2000 that the wreckage present on the bay floor is absent all structures from its main deck including nearly all the main decking itself (it was essentially a shell of a ship without a lid when it sank). Thousands of tons of the original irradiated steel of the ship has been missing for at least 35 years and likely longer. That irradiated steel is still unaccounted for by the US Navy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Studies and site visits made in 1999 by a Puerto Rican marine archaeologist and the University of Georgia

University of Georgia

The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...

discovered nearly two hundred steel barrels of unknown origin and contents among the wreckage of the Killen. Based on government descriptions of the nuclear tests in the Pacific, some scientists and Vieques environmental activists have been concerned that nuclear-fallout cleaning materials were likely stored inside those barrels and improperly disposed, possibly entering the local environment prior to sinking or exposing contaminants to the animals and habitat of Bahia Salina del Sur in Vieques after sinking. As of today the origin and contents of those barrels are still unknown.

In 2003, a team from the University of Georgia conducted radiological and toxicological tests of the wreckage. Using underwater detection equipment, they found that as of 2003 the metal at the wreck site did not present elevated radiological signatures of the ship's hull or interior components; everything else from the main deck and up is missing. Their report however failed to address a time-line of potential radiological hazard from the wreckage during its time in Puerto Rico (since 1963) or while lying as wreckage on the bay floor (since 1975). Also missing from the report was an assessment or mention of the potential radiological hazard from the thousands of tons of irradiated steel missing from the wreck site. The report discusses testing the interiors of the steel barrels at the wreck site but only four intact barrels and five 'open' ones were probed with a siphon-extraction tube. However, these nine (out of the several hundred barrels) were all located on a remote part of the wreckage separated by 787 ft from the main wreck site which contains the bulk of the barrels. This sampling flaw leaves the goodness of the report's conclusion in question. The origin of the barrels was never verified. Also, equipment described seen among the pile of barrels matches that of equipment scattered at different locations around the same bay raising questions about their source and time of deposition. The report did, however, raise concerns about possible contamination from ordnance at the site.

Sonic booms

It has been asserted that the noise created by the Navy’s testing appears to have negatively affected the health of civilians living on Vieques. In a study conducted for Puerto Rican Governor Calderon, 48 of the 50 Vieques residents tested were diagnosed as suffering from vibroacoustic disease — a thickening of heart tissue caused by exposure to sonic booms . Simultaneously, the Ponce School of Medicine

Ponce School of Medicine

Ponce School of Medicine is a private medical school located in the city of Ponce in Puerto Rico, U.S. The school is accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education , and classified as a United States Medical School...

conducted an independent study and found other data to confirm the presence of vibroacoustic disease: 79% of Viequenses fishermen have thickened heart tissue, which is the main symptom of vibroacoustic disease. This disease is said to lead to heart arrhythmia, or even death .

However, this claim was brought into question after review by an expert panel. This panel, composed of cardiologists and epidemiologists of international stature, half from the countries of Mexico and Spain and half from the U.S. mainland, reviewed the study done at Ponce School of Medicine (PSM). The tapes of echocardiograms, by which measurements of pericardial thicknesses had been made, were blind-coded at PSM and sent to Dr. Jae K. Oh, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As one of the most highly regarded echocardiographers in the world, Dr Oh was selected to repeat the measurements. Without knowledge of whether study subjects were from Vieques or from the control group, Dr. Oh repeated the echocardiographic measurements done at PSM. After his work was complete, both Oh's findings and the key to the blinding code were made available to interested scientists. When statistical analyses were repeated using Oh's measurements, there was no statistically significant difference between the Vieques and control groups. The expert panel concluded that "there is no evidence from the Vieques Heart Study to indicate a clinically significant heart disease."

Health risk speculation

Live explosives and gunfire were only used on a small portion of the island—the live impact area, which is located over eight miles from the nearest town. Although areas that were used decades ago for burning expired ammunition take up less than 300 acres (1.2 km²) and thus likely do not pose a serious health risk, the Navy has agreed to clean up the sites according to EPA standards. Furthermore, no civilians were ever hit by Navy fire. At a press conference in 2001 the Honorable Robert B. Pirie

Robert B. Pirie

Robert B. Pirie was a vice admiral in the United States Navy. He was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for air when he retired in 1962....

, Under Secretary of the Navy, said that: “Our training poses no danger and little burden to Viequenses and is absolutely vital to our national security.” .

Since most of the studies linking the Navy’s actions to the decline of public health were done by researchers affiliated with the Puerto Rico Independence Party, Pirie claimed that “none of the health-related allegations made have stood-up to credible scientific scrutiny or universally accepted legal standards”. Pirie also cited the National Cancer Institute

National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...

, which said that cancer rates in many major U.S. cities are actually higher than the cancer rates in Vieques. According to Dr. Carmen Feliciano, figures drawn from her data about an increased infant mortality rate in Vieques are misleading. The group that used her information omitted a range of data. When that data was factored in the infant mortality rate was actually lower than that in the rest of Puerto Rico . On behalf of the Navy, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health conducted a $46,000 review of the study on vibroacoustic disease done by the Vieques government. In April 2001 the university reported that there was no evidence to conclude that vibroacoustic disease symptoms on Vieques were due to noise from Navy exercises . Furthermore, the report suggested that vibroacoustic disease may not actually exist .

There are three different media through which humans can come in contact with hazardous materials: air, water, and soil. The United States Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a federal public health agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The agency focuses on minimizing human health risks associated with exposure to hazardous substances...

(“ATSDR”) tested water, air, and soil quality in order to determine whether the health of the Viequenses were at risk. In all cases the ATSDR found that either the Navy had not effected the environment or that the Navy had affected it so minimally that the contamination would pose no threat to human health . However, other scientists contend that ATSDR’s studies were incomplete. The ATSDR is notorious for denying links between community contamination and health affects. After monitoring the ATSDR for ten years, Linda King of the Environmental Health Network reported that only one ATSDR study among hundreds has found contaminants in the community to be the cause of health problems
.

Fish and shellfish pathway

After conducting tests on fish and shellfish, the ATSDR determined that it is safe to eat seafood from all waters and coastal lands around the island of Vieques. Even though several metals were detected in the local seafood, ATSDR concluded that the metals would not pose a health risk even if a person ate fish and shellfish every day for 70 years. No explosives were detected in the edible fish and shellfish that were tested .

Soil pathway

The ATSDR acknowledges that Navy training has elevated the levels of some metals in the soil of the former Live Impact Area, but holds that the levels are too low to harm humans. Making contact with any of the soil on Vieques would not cause adverse health effects .

Air pathway

The ATSDR found that the air does not contain dangerous levels of chemicals. Since the Live Impact Area is over eight miles from residential areas, airborne dust and contaminants from training activities disperse to harmlessly low levels before coming in contact with civilians .

Groundwater pathway

After testing the groundwater, the ATSDR determined that Naval training and testing has in no way affected the drinking water on Vieques. First of all, most of the island’s drinking water comes through an underwater pipeline from mainland Puerto Rico. Secondly, groundwater from the former Live Impact Area cannot leach into wells due to geological barriers. High levels of nitrates in some wells are due to local, most likely agricultural, sources. It is not safe for children and pregnant women to drink water from these few contaminated wells .

ATSDR studies contested

The ATSDR avoided drawing links between the Navy training and health concerns on Vieques. For example, the agency neglected to test several relevant wells, including the Sun Bay Wells, which serve as the backup water supply for Vieques in case the pipeline from mainland Puerto Rico breaks down. Furthermore, the Navy’s claim that groundwater from the testing site cannot reach residential groundwater supplies may be false. At a public meeting, when asked why the Navy had installed monitoring wells designed to track the spread of explosive contaminants between the impact area and the civilian area, the ATSDR refused to comment. Also, the ATSDR did not adequately emphasize negative findings in their report. For instance, high levels of benzene—more than four times the maximum allowed—were found in a groundwater well on the Navy’s property .

Cleanup

The Navy will conduct an environmental investigation of its previously-owned property under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act , enacted in 1976, is the principal Federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.-History and Goals:...

(RCRA) to determine what cleanup actions are needed. The EPA has been providing technical assistance and guidance to the Navy on environmental issues related to the land transfer in western Vieques . However, it will be difficult to discover what measures the U.S. must take because thick jungle growth inhibits testing for contaminants. Furthermore, jungle growth cannot be easily removed because the forests are littered with unexploded ordnance .

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