Navy pledges $200M for cleanup of Vieques

[babylonsister]

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_vieques_032508/

Navy pledges $200M for cleanup of Vieques

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 26, 2008 8:13:38 EDT


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Navy has set aside $200 million for the removal of military waste in Vieques island, just east of Puerto Rico’s main island, authorities announced Tuesday.

The money will be used in the next seven years to remove explosives in the island’s eastern region, the site of most previous military training exercises, said Richard Mach, with the Navy’s environment office.

More than 9,000 acres of the almost 23,000 acres that the Navy occupied for several decades will be scanned for contaminants, he said.

The Navy previously used Vieques as its main Atlantic training site, combining air, sea and land maneuvers. It ended them in 2003 following years of local protests after an errant bomb killed a civilian guard.

About 775 acres have been cleared since the cleanup began in 2005, with officials uncovering nearly 15,000 live munitions and recycling about 1,900 tons of scrap.

[jody]

1. The $200 million are actually taxpayer dollars. It's nice however to see our tax dollars being used

for a worthy project.

[Thothmes]

2. Doubt that will cover half of the eventual costs

They will pulling ordnance from those gun/bomb ranges for decades. The French Army is still cleaning up un-exploded ordnance from WWI. The Navy routinely sweeps the canyons around Clairmont Mesa in San Diego for un-exploded ordnance from WWII.

[babylonsister]

3. Wow. what was ordnance doing in a canyon in Mesa-target

practice? And I didn't know about the French Army and WWI either. The things I learn. Thanks.