{"id":43934,"date":"2024-12-09t19:38:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-09t19:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?p=43934"},"modified":"2024-12-13t16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13t16:25:04","slug":"remediation-vieques-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/remediation-vieques-island\/","title":{"rendered":"bombs beyond the beach: remediation efforts on vieques, puerto rico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

a long standing presence of the us military on the island of vieques, puerto rico has left its warm, turquoise waters and sandy, beach getaways tainted by ammunition waste and chemical contamination leaving spirited residents and restoration task forces to pick up the shrapnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in 1941, the u.s. navy purchased 27,000 of the 33,000 acres<\/a> that comprise the island of vieques. for nearly 60 years, the viequenses people \u201ccoexisted\u201d in the crossfire between the divided training areas on the 50.8 sq mile island, roughly the same area as the city of las vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

following the death of a civilian navy employee, david sanes<\/a> in 1999, civil unrest ensued, eventually leading to the departure of the us navy presence in 2003. however, the navy left the island peppered with remnants of undetonated bombs, pfas<\/a> chemicals, uranium, mercury, napalm and more<\/a>. all of which are toxic materials known to have serious effects on human health<\/a> along with generational impacts on the health of island youth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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map of the island of vieques. (wikimedia commons<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

caught in a crossfire: life on the island<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

the navy\u2019s departure followed years of persistent displays of civil disobedience by viequenses. before that, residents on the island lived an alarmingly close 8.7 miles from the \u201clive impact area\u201d<\/a> where military jets, traveling between 500 and 1,300 miles per hour, trained for high altitude bombing on the easternmost part of the island. according to author katherine t. mccaffrey, an error in four seconds of fire<\/a> from a ship could land up to 14 or 20 miles from the target, while a four second error from an aircraft pilot could drop a bomb up to 50 miles from a target. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"green,
navy bunker in vieques, puerto rico. (steven isaacson\/flickr)
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

local vieques resident, elda guadalupe carrasquillo, grew up during the navy\u2019s occupation and recalls the windows of her grade school classroom shaking during active munitions trainings. carraqquillo was raised on various army bases before settling in vieques with her family around age 10. \u201cwhen i was in a real military base, even though i saw a lot of military things, there were no actual live practices like here in vieques,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

despite carrasquillo’s familiarity with the events that occur on a military base, she affirms these training sessions were \u201ctoo close\u201d for the safety and comfort of residents. today, carrasquillo works with an agro-ecological farm on the island, la colmena cimarrona<\/a>, and is a middle school teacher. in addition to the violent nature of living so close to these \u201clive impact areas\u201d, residents also suffered from legacy pollution<\/a> due to the chemical and material shrapnel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

rates of cancer<\/a> amongst viequenses are 31% above that of the rates of cancer on the main island along with 4 times the rate of hypertension amongst residents. coupled with this, pollutants like agent orange, depleted uranium<\/a>, and pfas<\/a> have leached into the island\u2019s soil, groundwater, and air leaving residents vulnerable to exposure through a variety of mediums<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwe don’t know how contaminated our underground water sources are,\u201d carrasquillo said. she also noted that a large majority of students on the island require individualized educational plans due to learning disabilities which recent studies<\/a> have found links between cognitive development and pfas exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

uxos and remediated sites: successful strides in clean-up efforts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

in 2005, the island was placed on the national priorities list<\/a>, as a \u201csuperfund\u201d site \u2014 one that requires investigation and clean-up by the u.s. government. today, several locations around the island have been successfully remediated to become recreational spaces for islanders and tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a notable site from the eastern sect of the superfund sites, the puerto ferro lighthouse<\/a> was constructed in 1896 by spanish colonizers. the lighthouse lies within the 535 acres that comprise uxo area 15<\/a>, an unfortunate title that refers to the presence of unexploded ordnance like bombs and bullets on the land. despite the contamination, the scenic area on the southern coast of vieques overlooks a bright blue coastline and slopes upward as you move inland.<\/p>\n\n\n

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puerto ferro lighthouse on vieques island, puerto rico. (felix lopez\/cc by-nc 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

the area around the abandoned structure is home to a thin forest of mangrove trees, lagoons, and salt and sand flats. but in just one year, over 23,000 explosive bombs were dropped on these coastal hills. in 2013, the us navy<\/a> initiated priority action to facilitate public access and to encourage recreational and commercial activities at puerto ferro and the surrounding beach areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the area was investigated for munitions and explosives of concern anywhere from 1 to 4 ft below ground surface level. the area was ultimately remediated seven years ahead of schedule<\/a>, and upon completion provided public access to formerly restricted areas as well as educational kiosks and monuments for visitors to interact with.<\/p>\n\n\n

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statistic from political power and health inequalities in vieques,
puerto rico<\/a><\/em>. (abbey leibert)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

moving to the western sect of the superfund sites, former open burn\/open detonation sites (swmu 4 and uxo 16<\/a>) were also successfully remediated ahead of schedule to provide further public access to recreational spaces like the beaches around the island. several pieces of munitions were removed from the site, however, not all were recollected. despite this, a 2018 remedial investigation report<\/a> found the likelihood that these munitions were still physically present in the area was improbable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

balancing the health of the land and the people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

a large part of the uxo sites on the island have been remediated, and are in the concluding or monitoring stages of the clean-up process. while numerous sites still remain around the island, within the next decade, most of the entire island is expected to be remediated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nonetheless, carrasquillo expects challenges and uncertainty ahead. \u201cwe know it’s never going to be completely clean and maybe it\u2019s not going to be usable for what the viequenses need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

still, carrasquillo characterizes viequenses as \u201cresistant,\u201d embodied in the peoples’ continued advocacy for their own health and the island\u2019s environment. following the clean up of munitions around the island, she hopes to see the island begin to restore its emotional and mental wellness through strengthening their relationship with the land stating, \u201cif we can heal our land little piece by little piece so we can also be healthy, maybe we can help vieques recover.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

residents of isla de vieques, off the coast of puerto rico, discuss the remediation efforts on the island after decades use by the us military. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4889,5195,4938,4909],"tags":[],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-43934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-military","category-justice","category-pollution","category-public-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nremediation efforts on vieques island, puerto rico - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"residents of vieques island off the coast of puerto rico discuss the remediation efforts on the island after decades use by the us military.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/remediation-vieques-island\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"remediation efforts on vieques island, puerto rico - 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