[Peace-discuss] Vieques

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

Navy to Expand Its Use of Bombing Ranges
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 12:01 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Navy will expand its use of bombing ranges in Florida 
and elsewhere on the U.S. mainland when it abandons a site on the Puerto 
Rican island of Vieques in May, defense officials said Friday.

Navy officials were notifying Congress that they had certified alternatives 
to Vieques for conducting live-fire and other training, and an official 
announcement was planned soon, the officials said, speaking on condition of 
anonymity.

The Navy has used Vieques as its main Atlantic Coast training range for 56 
years but it has been hindered by local protests stemming from an April 1999 
bombing accident that killed a civilian security guard. In January 2000 the 
Clinton administration set a May 2003 target date for withdrawing from 
Vieques, but Congress required the Navy to certify that alternative training 
sites were at least as good as Vieques.

For years the Navy and Marine Corps asserted that there were no satisfactory 
alternatives to Vieques, which it considered the crown jewel of training 
facilities for naval air and amphibious forces in the Atlantic Fleet.

Many Puerto Ricans objected to the continued use of Vieques, citing 
environmental and other risks.

Among the main alternatives certified by Navy Secretary Gordon England as 
``equivalent or superior'' to Vieques:

-- Pinecastle naval bombing range in Florida's Ocala National Forest near 
Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The Navy has used nearly 6,000 acres of the 
382,000-acre forest for target practice for decades under a special-use 
permit from the U.S. Forest. Last year it received a 20-year extensive of the 
permit.

-- Avon Park Air Force range in south-central Florida. It is a 106,000-acre 
bombing and gunnery range about 10 miles southeast of the city of Avon Park.

-- Eglin Air Force Base, about seven miles from Fort Walton Beach in the 
Florida panhandle. Eglin has hundreds of acres of ranges and other facilities 
and three active air fields: Eglin Main, Duke and Hurlburt. In recent years 
the Navy has done some live bombing at Eglin ranges.

-- Tyndall Air Force Base, about 12 miles east of Panama City, Fla., home of 
the 325th Fighter Wing and the Southeast Air Defense Sector.

-- An at-sea Navy range off the coast of Key West, Fla.

The Navy also is considering using Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on 
the North Carolina coast.

Before it abandons Vieques in May, the Navy intends to use it for training 
naval forces that may be deployed for a war against Iraq. These include the 
USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group, which is expected to train there 
in late January. Under an agreement with the Puerto Rican government, no live 
ordnance is used in training at Vieques.

^------

On the Net:

Navy and Vieques at http://www.navyvieques.navy.mil/



Funny how this story avoids actual health and environmental effects.

FORMER HEAD OF PENTAGON'S DEPLETED URANIUM PROJECT AND ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF 
PENTAGON'S PROGRAM FOR ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION OF FORMERLY USED DEFENSE 
SITES  CONDEMNS ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION OF VIEQUES CAUSED BY
U.S. NAVY OPERATIONS.

February 9, 2000, Jacksonville, Alabama

Professor  Doug Rokke, Ph.D., former Director of the Pentagon's Depleted
Uranium Project and one of the authors of  Pentagon's  program for
environmental remediation of  formerly used defense sites, denounced the
U.S. Navy's use of Vieques for many years as a training and test ground
for military munitions.  Navy officers and enlisted personnel under orders
and as part of Navy operations have fired conventional and depleted
uranium munitions into the Vieques range resulting in serious adverse
health and environmental effects. After a civilian guard was killed in
April 1999, Navy officials acknowledged that they willfully violated "the
requirements of the Navy's radioactive materials by firing depleted
uranium munitions which specify that depleted uranium ammunition is to be
used strictly during combat or approved tests and are prohibited from
peacetime or training use", according to Luis Reyes in a letter he sent to
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's Secretary of Health Carmen Melecio dated
1 February 2000.

Mr. Reyes added that Navy officers in Vieques failed to "follow written
procedures for issuance and use of ammunition".  Moreover, a report
prepared by scientists from the University of Georgia revealed that they
found barrels containing unknown and potentially hazardous chemicals on
ships deliberately sunk off of the coast of Vieques in 15' - 20' of water.
These ships were shot up.

"It is imperative that complete environmental remediation of all affected
terrain and medical care be provided for all affected residents of
Vieques.", Dr. Rokke stated.

Depleted uranium (DU) or uranium-238 is made from uranium hexaflouride
which is the non-fissionable by-product of the uranium enrichment process
used to obtain uranium-235 for reactor fuel and nuclear bombs. A
surprising announcement by U.S. Department of Energy officials on January
29, 2000 acknowledged, after many years of denial, that employees of their
facilities had significantly higher incident rates for leukemia; Hodgkin's
lymphoma; and cancers of the prostrate, kidney, liver, salivary glands,
and lungs. Previous announcements acknowledged respiratory problems at the
Paducah, Kentucky facility. These revelations and acknowledgments
reinforce the suspected health and environmental hazards of depleted
uranium which is manufactured from the main byproduct, uranium
hexaflouride, of each of these facilities.  It is even more disturbing
that in a memorandum dated October 30, 1943, senior scientists assigned to
the Manhattan Project suggested that uranium could be used as an air and
terrain contaminant.  According to the letter sent by the Subcommittee of
the S-1 Executive Committee on the "Use of Radioactive Materials as a
Military Weapon" to General Groves (October 30, 1943) inhalation of
uranium would result in "bronchial  irritation coming on in a few hours to
a few days".  This is exactly what happened to individuals who inhaled DU
dust during Operation Desert Storm. 

The subcommittee went on further to state that "Beta emitting products
could get into the gastrointestinal tract from polluted water, or food, or
air.  From the air, they would get on the mucus of  the nose, throat,
bronchi, etc. and be swallowed.  The effects would be local irritation
just as in the bronchi and exposures of the same amount would be required.
The stomach, caecum and rectum, where contents remain for longer periods
than elsewhere would be most likely affected.  It is conceivable that
ulcers and perforations of the gut followed by death could be produced,
even without an general effects from radiation".  Today many who inhaled
or ingested DU have bouts of explosive diarrhea and other problems.
Today, most of health effects predicted by the subcommittee in 1943 are
observed in those exposed to DU during ODS.

According to the U.S. Army's official "RESPOND TO DEPLETED URANIUM/LOW
LEVEL RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS (DULLRAM) HAZARDS"  task number "031-503-1017:
Contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption."  This
direct quote verifies  that the military still is
aware as they always have been been since 1943 that serious hazards
exist from uranium (DU) contamination.

Dr. Rokke stated that each day reveals more evidence that the United
States' willful distribution of uranium in Puerto Rico and other
locations around the world poses serious risks.  Although it is
difficult to verify that health effects were caused by DU exposure,
accumulating evidence indicates that health effects include: reactive
airway disease, neurological abnormalities, kidney stones, chronic kidney
pain, rashes, vision degradation, night vision losses, gum tissue
problems, lymphoma, leukemia, other cancers, neuro-psychological
disorders, uranium in semen, sexual dysfunction, gastro-intestinal
problems, and birth defects in offspring.

Responsibility for DU exposures will be elusive while U.S. officials
deny or delay medical treatment to all individuals who inhaled,
ingested, or have wound contamination. Exposures will continue until
removal of all DU contamination is completed. Still, Dr. Rokke added
that Department of Defense officials continue to deny any responsibility
for this travesty of environmental justice.   Dr. Rokke recommended that,
the citizens of Vieques and the world must insist that:

1. All individuals who may have inhaled, ingested, or had wound
contamination must receive medical assessment and treatment for adverse
health effects.

2. All depleted uranium penetrator fragments, contaminated equipment, and
oxide contamination must be removed and disposed of to prevent further
adverse health and environmental effects.

3.  The use of depleted uranium munitions must be banned.

The residue caused by the use of conventional munitions also poses serious
health and environmental risks.  Conventional munitions residue consists
of unstable and unexploded ordnance, heavy metal shrapnel, organic
compound residues, and inorganic chemical compound residues.  The
unanswered question is whether any chemical warfare or biological warfare
agents have been used on Vieques.  Conventional munitions residues may
consist of phosphorous or other pyrophoric materials; napalm; triethalum
metal incendiaries; lead styphnate; lead azide; nitroglycerin; mercury
azide; mercury fulminate; PETN; Compositions A, B, C; Tetryl; TNT; RDX;
HBX; black powder; ammonium nitrate; Favier explosives (reference U.S.
Corps of Engineers Missouri River Division, February 10, 1993); HMX; TNB;
DNB; NB; 2,4 DNT; 2,6 DNT;  2NT; 3 NT, 4NT; 4-Am-DNT; and  2-am-DNT
(reference U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District December 12, 1996);
picrates;  nitrocellulose; AP; and nitroaromatics (reference SAIC May, 6,
1997).   

In addition to these contaminants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(reference "Approaches for the Remediation of Federal Facility Sites
Contaminated with Explosives or Radioactive Wastes", EPA/625/R-93/013,
September 1993) identified similar and additional contaminants.  The
probable adverse health and environmental effects based on  physical and
chemical characteristics of these conventional munitions residues  mandate
a complete analysis followed by thorough environmental remediation of all
affected areas on the island or in the surrounding waters of Vieques.
Medical care also must be provided for these exposures.

Professor Rokke stated that the recent finding of ships sunk with
potential hazardous materials in leaking barrels off the coast of Vieques
in 15' to 20' is disturbing.  Probable water and thus food chain
contamination from these leaking barrels with unknown chemicals and decay
of ship construction materials also mandates a thorough analysis of
contamination, completion of environmental remediation, and health care
for all affected individuals.

Dr. Rokke also denounced the fact that almost eights (8) months have
passed since the Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques filed
a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on June 16, 1999 from all the
US military branches, requesting any and all information about the use of
DU on Vieques and the Committee has yet to receive substantive response.
"The Navy was forced to admit that they fired DU on Vieques on February
1999.  But the fact that it's taken so long for the Armed Forces to
categorically admit or deny others uses of DU on Vieques raises suspicion
that there have been other uses of DU on Vieques.  This wouldn't surprise
me, since the Armed Forces have treated Vieques and its citizens as guinea
pigs." said Dr. Rokke.

Finally, Dr. Rokke added that environmental contamination caused by
deliberate U.S. Navy actions resulting in air, water, and soil
contamination with consequent adverse health effects is a crime  gainst
humanity and must be immediately corrected.  He stated: "All citizens of
Vieques, Puerto Rico, the United States, and all other nations of the
world must unite to protect our fragile environment and the health of all
living things. We also must demand the cessation of all Naval activities
on Vieques to prevent further problems in the name of GOD and for the
citizens of the world."