The results of the Federal Reserve report are disappointing to many who live in Vieques and Culebra, with some beaches and trails due to be opened.
A federal report released Friday said the reopening of hiking trails and many white-sand beaches on two small islands in Puerto Rico that had long been used as naval bombing grounds and now popular with tourists will be delayed by more than a decade.
The clean-up efforts at Vieques and Culebra, led by the US Department of Defense and the US Army Corps of Engineers, will run respectively through 2032 at an additional cost of $ 420 million for a total of $ 800 million, the US Government Accountability Office said.
“There is still a lot of work to be done,” the report said. Challenges include logistics, terrain, the environment, and security concerns about handling unexploded ammo. The Navy is also facing challenges in Vieques due to the community’s lack of confidence in the military’s handling of the clean-up effort. ”
So far, crews have removed their ammunition, including 32,000 bombs, 12,000 grenades, and 1,300 rockets from Vieques, as the United States government relocated residents when the Navy began using the island as a training ground in the 1940s. Meanwhile, crews have removed more than 5,000 pieces of unexploded ammo since January 2020 in Culebra, as the military ceased all activities in 1975. An unknown number of munitions remain on both islands in eastern Puerto Rico while their crews are using tools. They range from machetes to drones to help clean up the area.
In addition, the Navy had identified perchlorate in groundwater at at least one site on Vieques Island, operating a 14,500-acre training field until its shutdown in 2001. The area was later identified as a Superfund Site believed to contain mercury, lead and napalm. And depleted uranium and other pollutants.
The Government Accountability Office said there is still a lot of work to be done on a site that covers some 11,500 acres underwater and stretches from the Vieques coast to a depth of 10 to 15 feet. Meanwhile, the agency said clean-up at 14 of the 15 former Culebra military sites will continue through fiscal year 2031.
However, the report indicated that the US Navy expects about 5,000 acres of Vieques Island to open by 2021 for hiking and other activities.
Overall, the report’s findings are disappointing for many of those who live in Vieques and Culebra and for the government of Puerto Rico, whose robust tourism sector accounts for only 7 percent of the US economy, but it has not changed. Floating despite the economic crisis of more than a decade. . The open beaches of Vieques and Culebra attract tens of thousands of tourists annually, and officials hope to increase that number.
According to the GAO report, “(Federal) officials have told us that beaches and coasts are a challenge because some beaches, for example, are open to the public and closures must be done in coordination with local officials, which may affect sightseeing.”
Two locals and tourists have been injured over the years with live ammunition, including a girl who burned herself after picking up an old shell containing white phosphorous. Police said at the time that officials found six live bombs near the shell.
Another challenge to clean-up efforts is the weather, and officials say work crews sometimes have to re-check sites to make sure the hurricane is not pushing munitions to a site that was previously cleared.
The clean-up, combined with the prolonged presence of pollutants on both islands, has angered many locals who blame the US government for their health problems. The Navy has agreed to limit controlled burns to two acres a day, and hopes to start using a closed blasting room later this year, something locals have been asking for for a decade, the Government Accountability Office said.
