[CPEO-MEF] Congressman questions Navy clean up of Vieques

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

From: COMITE PRO RESCATE Y DESARROLLO DE VIEQUES
(Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques)
http://www.prorescatevieques.org/

Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), a Member of the House Ways and
Means Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, sent out
the following letter today to the Comptroller General of the United
States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), David
Walker, regarding the clean up and decontamination process in
Vieques. Congressman Crowley, in his third term as Chief Deputy Whip
for the House Democratic Caucus, was involved in the movement to get
the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, toured the contaminated lands in
Vieques shortly after the U.S. Navy's departure in 2003 and has
previously expressed concerns about the clean up and decontamination
process in Vieques

-----------------------------------------------------

January 25, 2008

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
United States Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548

Dear Comptroller General Walker:

The U.S. Navy withdrew from Vieques, Puerto Rico in May 2003, and I
strongly supported the Navy's decision to leave. However, the Navy's
presence can still be felt through the severely contaminated land and
water it left behind. The environmental damage is so severe that
Vieques was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL) under the
Superfund law. Yet, the agencies responsible for the clean up and
decontamination of the island have not adequately addressed the
situation. That is why I am calling on the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) to assess whether the plans for cleaning up Vieques are
optimal and whether the U.S. Navy and its contractors are using the
latest and most effective technology to complete this task.

As you know, in September 2007, a proposed federal facility inter-
agency agreement (FFA) was entered into between the Environmental
Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of the Navy, the U.S.
Department of the Interior, and Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality
Board, the agencies with jurisdiction over the clean up work on
Vieques. Although the proposed agreement should provide much-needed
guidance and facilitate cooperation among the agencies, the troubling
environmental, ecological and health situation in Vieques cannot
depend solely on the expectations of future governmental
understandings. There are exigent circumstances affecting the lives
and health of thousands of Viequenses that must be evaluated and
dealt with in the present.

The GAO has, and should continue to, play a role in the remediation
of Vieques. In March 2007, the GAO prepared a report, in response to
a request from Congressman Charles Rangel, that provided information
on the status and estimated costs of environmental cleanup on Vieques
from the U.S. Navy. The report was incredibly useful, and I believe
the GAO ought to update the information concerning the clean up and
decontamination process in Vieques. I would also ask that the GAO
assess and provide answers to the questions posed below concerning
the remediation process, the clean up methodology, and other aspects
that are vital to a more thorough understanding of the process.

The people of Vieques bore a huge burden and sacrifice throughout the
time the U.S. military used the island for military exercises. They
deserve to have their land rightfully returned to its full health. I
know the GAO can play an important role in ensuring this happens, and
I look forward to working with you to make sure the right progress is
being made.

Sincerely,

Joseph Crowley
Member of Congress

The following is a list of questions that the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) should ask of the relevant federal
agencies as it conducts a study, assessment and report on the clean
up and decontamination process and issues concerning the public
health assessments and the health situation in Vieques. The list is
not exclusive of other relevant inquiries the GAO may conduct in
order to more fully prepare its report.

Questions to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Has the public outreach conducted by the EPA regarding the
Vieques sampling and remediation effort been consistent with standard
practice? With other Superfund sites it oversees? Other military
clean-up/Superfund projects?

• Is the EPA funded sufficiently by the Navy to undertake its
outreach and oversight roles at Vieques? Is it staffed
appropriately?

• Has there been timely and effective notification to the
public of proposed activities, including public meetings, a public
comments period, and clean up and removal activities, including
detonations?

• Is there an adequate monitoring system to detect particulates
that may be transported through air to the civilian sector in Vieques
after the detonations--in place of UXO?

• Has the EPA been exercising standard oversight of the Navy's,
and contractors'-, remediation efforts? Has the EPA impacted the
remediation and sampling proposals and actions undertaken by the
Navy, or has it approved them as proposed by the Navy?

• Are the sampling standards approved by the EPA sufficient to
determine the scope and extent of contamination on Vieques?

• Has the EPA afforded appropriate consideration to sampling
and/or remediation of impacted marine environments?

• Has the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's environmental
authority, the Environmental Quality Board, been afforded the
appropriate level of joint oversight, funding and authority –through
the proposed federal facility agreement (FFA) or otherwise- to direct
the remediation and sampling effort?

Questions to the U.S. Navy

• Is the Navy's environmental sampling plan for Vieques
consistent with standard practice?

• What is the process for the Navy determining the appropriate
sampling and remediation plan?

• Has the Navy sufficiently funded the sampling and remediation
effort?

• Is it sufficiently funding other involved agencies (i.e. EPA
and Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality Board)?

• Is this remediation effort by the Navy consistent with other
Superfund clean-ups that the Navy, or U.S. armed forces, are
undertaking or have undertaken?

• Has the Navy's contracting of this remediation followed
standard acquisition practice?

• Is the Navy, or its contractor, appropriately involving the
local public in educational, informative or contracting
opportunities?

• Has the Navy appropriately identified the scope of the
remediation for Vieques?

• To what extent does the Navy remediation plan consider
remediation to include UXO removal in the surrounding marine
environment?

• Do the Navy's sampling and remediation plans sufficiently
take into account the possibility for increased human use of the
former training range, or possible disposal of any U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service property (or do they assume perpetual limited human
use, consistent with maintenance as a wildlife refuge)?

• Is the Navy's practice of UXO disposal by detonation-in-
place, or other methods, consistent with standard practice? Should
it consider or use other methods for UXO disposal?

• Is the Navy sufficiently monitoring the air, soil and water
with regards to the detonation-in--place UXO disposal?

• What authority do the EPA and local authorities such as the
Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board have over the Navy's
remediation and sampling plans?


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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