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Vieques, Puerto Rico Site Proposed to Superfund NPL
The Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area (AFWTA) in Puerto Rico has been proposed
for inclusion on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL).
The AFWTA is located on the eastern and western portions of the Island of Vieques
and areas of the Culebra Archipelago and surrounding water bodies. The governor
of Puerto Rico has identified this area as the commonwealth’s top priority
facility for Superfund response.
For over 100 years, the United States Navy has used the AFWTA as a training
facility. The eastern portion of the Island of Vieques was used for military
training exercises, and on the western portion, the Navy operated the Naval
Ammunitions Support Detachment (NASD), which covered approximately 8,000 acres.
Many areas of the eastern portion of the island, which were transferred to the
U.S. Department of Interior in May, 2003, are designated for the NPL. There
are at least eight identified operable units at this site where investigation
and remediation are not completed, but they have not been selected as No Further
Action pursuant to CERCLA.
Between 1902 and 1975, the Navy conducted a weapons training operation on portions
of the Culebra Archipelago. The Army is now addressing these areas through the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Defense Sites program.
Key operations on both islands included aircraft strafing, bombing and gunnery
ranges and amphibious landings. Large amounts of parts and unexploded ordnance
have been discovered at the range areas of the islands, and low levels of contamination
have been identified in the Vieques groundwater.
Contamination of water bodies surrounding both sites includes unexploded ordnance
and other hazardous substances.
Approximately 9,300 residents live on the Island of Vieques while approximately
3,000 live on Culebra. Residents obtain their drinking water from Puerto Rico,
only eight miles away. Much of the facility is now being designated a wilderness
area to protect the habitat of 25 federal and Puerto Rican endangered species.
EPA is currently evaluating all of the comments that were received from the
public and will consider their impact on this site before a final listing decision
is reached.
Excerpted from Cleanup News, a publication of the U.S. EPA.