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<font size=3>Gracias a Deborah Santana por traducciones al
inglés...thanks to Deborah Santana for English translations<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.vocero.com/noticia-22563-autorizan_a_la_marina_quema_de_vegetacin_en_vieques.html">
http://www.vocero.com/noticia-22563-autorizan_a_la_marina_quema_de_vegetacin_en_vieques.html</a>
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Navy authorized to burn vegetation in Vieques<br>
By Maricelis Rivera Santos<br>
El Vocero<br><br>
May 21, 2009 11 AM AST<br><br>
On May 15 he (Puerto Rico) Environmental Quality Board (EQB) granted the
U.S Navy an exemption from regulations in order to allow burning of 200
acres of land in the eastern end of Vieques Island, according to
residents opposed to this action.<br><br>
Vieques residents oppose this practice because they understand that it
would exacerbate even more the precarious health conditions that a great
part of the Vieques population, above all children and the elderly, as
well as the environment.<br><br>
They charge that the burning of vegetation is not compatible with the
work of decontamination that this military force is carrying out in lands
where they used to maintain a bombing range.<br><br>
“The exemption attacks the ultimate goal of creating a natural reserve in
the lands that they want to burn. It is relevant to mention that in these
lands there are coastal lagoons, nesting areas for tortoises, birds and
other animal species, many of which are endangered species,” they
indicated in a press release (see below).<br><br>
They said that the Navy claims that because of dense vegetation burning
is the best way to find the bombs. But the residents do not believe this
due to the Navy’s evident military power and available
technology.<br><br>
“We understand that the real and most plausible motivation for the Navy
to request this exemption is economic, and not security or health,” they
pointed out.<br><br>
They warned that the Navy and the EQB claim that burning and open air
detonation of munitions will not affect the health of the residents, but
that the results of some air pollution dispersion models are not reliable
because they contain various errors.<br><br>
*PRESS RELEASE<br>
May 21, 2009<br>
For Immediate Publication<br>
Contacts:<br>
Ismael Guadalupe (787.612.0723)<br>
<a href="http://cruz.nazario@upr.edu">Dra. Cruz María Nazario
(</a><a href="mailto:cruz.nazario@upr.edu">cruz.nazario@upr.edu</a>)<br>
<a href="http://jorge1962cr@gmail.com">Dr. Jorge Colón
(</a><a href="mailto:jorge1962cr@gmail.com">jorge1962cr@gmail.com</a>)<br>
<a href="http://espasas@gmail.com">Lcdo. Rafael M. Espasas García
(</a><a href="mailto:espasas@gmail.com">espasas@gmail.com</a>)<br>
<a href="http://benuz_lau@yahoo.com">Lcda. Laura García
(</a><a href="mailto:benuz_lau@yahoo.com">benuz_lau@yahoo.com</a>)<br>
*<br>
*EQB approves Navy plan to burn hundreds of acres of lands<br>
*<br>
The EQB (Puerto Rico Environmental Quality board) this past May 15 fave
notice of approval for an exemption requested by the U.S. Navy to burn
more than 200 acres of land in the east of Vieques.<br><br>
Vieques residents oppose this practice because they understand that it
would exacerbate even more the precarious health conditions that a great
part of the Viequense population suffers, above all children and the
elderly. In addition, they oppose it for conflicting with the work
of cleanup that the Navy is supposed to be carrying out. The exemption
also attacks the ultimate goal of creating a natural reserve in the lands
that that the Navy wants to burn. It is worth mentioning that these lands
contain coastal lagoons, nesting areas for tortoises, birds, and other
animal species, some of which are endangered species.<br><br>
The Navy claims that because of dense plant growth in the area the best
way to find the bombs is to burn all of the vegetation. Given the
great and evident military power and technology of this military force,
we have difficulty accepting such an argument. We understand that the
Navy’s real and plausible motivation for requesting this exemption is
economic, ad not<br>
security or health.<br><br>
The Navy claims that open air burning will not affect the health of the
residents of Vieques. It bases this claim upon results of some dispersion
models that are used to evaluate the impact of burning on air quality.
According to these models, no contaminant exceeds the permitted federal
standard in two populated areas of Vieques, that is, the town of Isabel
Segunda and the village of Esperanza. These federal standards are known
as NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards). Consequently, what the
Navy and the EQB understand and have outlined as their argument is that,
since<br>
according to dispersion models no contaminant exceeds the federally
permitted maximum in both populations the people of Vieques will not be
affected.<br><br>
Nonetheless, the analysis made about the NAAQS contains various errors.
Firstly, it doesn’t take into consideration multiple dangerous
contaminants. It has been proven scientifically that exposure to various
contaminants increases exponentially the effects. In other words,
although individually each contaminate may not exceed the established
limits, exposure to a “cocktail” of hundreds of hazardous chemical
compounds may be highly prejudicial to health. Existing regulations do
not contemplate this empirical and scientific reality.<br><br>
According to the documents presented by the Navy, the combination of
contaminants that are presently found in Vieques soils that will be
released into the atmosphere by open air burning include aluminum,
ammonium, vinyl acetate, acid acetate, formic acid, propanic acid,
benzene, cadmium, chloride, cresol, chromium VI, carbon monoxide,
hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, phoraldehide, phenyl, vanillin, lead,
mercury, methane, methanol, methylene, methylethylketone (2 butanone),
nickel, nitrogen dioxide, fine particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, and
zinc, among many others.<br><br>
Although the models indicate that the air in both populations will cumply
with federal regulations, contamination levels will indeed exceed
permitted in practically all of Vieques lands east of these populations.
The fact that established populations may not exist in those lands does
not prevent the burning from having adverse health and environmental
effects. Much land with agricultural capacity exists where the models
indicate a great concentration of dangerous contaminants. Consequently
these lands will see more contamination, which means that such
contamination can directly and indirectly affect health via consumption
of food cultivated there. It is ironic and extremely dangerous that as
part of the cleanup work the soils will become more
contaminated.<br><br>
According to a study recently carried out by the Department of Biology of
the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez, vegetation in areas bordering the
bombing area is highly contaminated with heavy metals, to the point that
the great majority of cultivated crops studies are not safe for human
consumption. If this is the picture for lands that are indirectly
affected with contamination caused by military practices, we can only
imagine the amount of heavy metals that would be found in the lands
directly affected by those practices, and consequently in the vegetation
that the Navy now wants to burn at a rate of 100 acres per day.<br><br>
The Navy’s own documents indicate that in the area to be burned there are
more than 68 types of bombs, 8 types of rockets, 7 types of pyrotechnic
material, and 14 types of explosives, among other military artifacts.
When we speak of “types” we refer to classification, not quantities.
Among all of the types of explosive military material deposited there,
there are thousands of artifacts, not only in the bombing area but also
in surrounding waters. The great majority of these artifacts are in an
advanced state of corrosion, releasing multiple contaminants – above all,
heavy metals – in the soils and the sea.<br><br>
According to the EPA, the dispersion models for fires such as is proposed
here are not reliable. (See *EPA, AP-42, Fifth Edition, Volume I, Chapter
13.1: Wildfires and Prescribed Burning*). Therefore, it is quite probable
that some dangerous contaminants indeed exceed the limits permitted by
NAAQS in both Vieques populations.<br><br>
By definition, land cleanup work assumes that it not put the health of
the population at greater risk. The Superfund assigns hundreds of
millions of dollars to carry out contamination studies and establish safe
and secure plans for cleanup and contamination management. We do not see
any reason that Vieques should be the exception. Approval of exemption is
synonymous with putting the economic interests of the Navy above the
right of Puerto Ricans, residents and visitors to Vieques to live in a
healthy and just environment.<br><br>
------ End of Forwarded Message<br><br>
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