Thousands in Vieques Bring Health Claims

Puerto Rico Update, December 2003

by Sonia Ivette Dueño

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus on July 24 signed on in support of health and property claims brought to the Secretary of the Navy by nearly seven thousand Vieques residents represented by a Mississippi law firm.

What Will the Navy Spend to Clean Up Vieques?

The Fellowship of Reconciliation obtained a Navy document prepared in early 2003 outlining the Navy’s planned budget for cleanup in Vieques. For the western side of the island, where 17 sites are still formally under investigation and an open detonation site had unexploded ordnance, the Navy said it would spend $9.77 million during the next four years. On the eastern side, the Navy said it plans to spend just over $17 million in the next four years, exclusive of munitions clearance. In 2000, the EPA ordered the Navy to begin cleanup of 12 sites of mostly industrial contamination in eastern Vieques.

For the current year, the Navy says it has programmed “up to $2 million to begin munitions clearance and assessment activities.” How much the Navy spends next year and future years addressing explosives contamination depends on several factors. The first, the Navy says, is “Land use as determined by the [Department of Interior] and the Navy.” Other factors include what regulatory standards will be applied, the density of ordnance found, how complex the work is, and coordination with others, such as Puerto Rico’s environmental agencies.

We ask: Where does the Navy get any authority to determine land use in Vieques? Under current law, Interior will consult with a broad array of agencies and with the community to create a comprehensive plan – but the Navy is not an equal partner in that process. Who will challenge the Navy’s assertion?

In a letter sent to then Acting Secretary Hansford T. Johnson, the Congressional members asked Hanson to "take appropriate and immediate action to compensate the thousands of American residents of the Island of Vieques," and demanded a meeting.

Acting Secretary Hansford T. Johnson replied that, "The Navy takes very seriously any allegation that our activities may have affected the health of the people of Vieques," and stated further the Navy "would begin adjudication of each claim in the context of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Studies (ATSDR)." Those studies, according to the letter, "have determined there are no health risks associated with the Navy activities in Vieques." The high incidence of cancer and other diseases and mortality rate in Vieques indicates otherwise.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus continued their support of Vieques by writing Senator Clinton in October to keep the hold on the Michael Leavitt nomination as head of EPA. The letter asked the Senator additionally to support the compensation of the claims to the Vieques residents.

After the Navy’s departure in May, Senator Charles Schumer and other New York elected officials also added pressure to the federal government by writing Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson in June and asking for a comprehensive health care services audit of Vieques.

According to Carmen Valencia, of the Vieques Women's Alliance, "There is a tremendous contradiction in President Bush's request to Congress for $2 billion to restore health services in Iraq after the U.S. destruction without resolving the situation in Vieques."

On November 17, a tourist on a Vieques beach found a suspicious-looking artefact with wires hanging from it, and notified the police. Shortly after, three men from the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station arrived to take away the objector, which apparently was a detonator for an explosive. When Vieques resident Kathy Gannett, who took this photo, asked one of the Navy men whether it was dangerous, he replied, “Yes, if you knew how to use it.” The Navy men, one of whom carries it away in the photo above, claimed the device was “commercial.”

Although the Puerto Rico Health Department canceled a meeting scheduled for November 12 to organize the community youth sampling because of the torrential rains, the testing will move forward as scheduled, stated Myrna Pagán, member of the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques Health Committee.

"The Puerto Rico Health Department will begin a two-week long sampling of 500 children ages 5 to 19 years old on December 15," added Zaida Torres, a Registered Nurse and member of the Vieques Transition Committee, an entity created by Governor Sila Calderón to advise her on the Navy transfer of lands to the Department of Interior. Torres was named to the Committee after Vieques community groups demanded representation in the Committee, most of which were government officials. Torres is a member of the Vieques Women's Alliance.

Torres added the children to be tested for heavy metals in their blood and urine will be chosen randomly and all will have hair samples taken. Because of the high school dropout rate, it was determined the sampling would be conducted by neighborhoods. If the results yield a high number of youth with heavy metals in their systems, the methodology will change and all students will be tested. The testing is a result of demands made by the Vieques community groups.

Sources: Interviews with Myrna Pagán, Zaida Torres 11/18/03; El Nuevo Día, 9/23/03; El Vocero 10/31/03; CHC letter to Navy Acting Secretary 7/24/03; Navy Acting Secretary letter to CHC 9/25/03.

©2003 Fellowship of Reconciliation