Jump to main content.

Vieques Island/Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area

Site Information

Area of Concern H

FFA

Contact Information

Join our Mailing List
Sign up to receive e-mail updates on EPA's activities at the Vieques Island/Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area cleanup.

EPA added portions of Vieques Island, Puerto Rico to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) on February 11, 2005, by an act of the Governor of Puerto Rico. During the 1940s, the U.S. Navy acquired about 25,000 acres on the eastern and western ends of Vieques, Puerto Rico, an island located about seven miles southeast of mainland Puerto Rico. Vieques was used for naval gunfire support and air-to-ground training from the 1940s until May 1, 2003, when the Navy ceased all military operations on the island and transferred its property on the eastern side of the island to the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service. The land was designated as a wildlife refuge. About 8,100 acres of land on the western side of the island, which had been used for the munitions storage, was transferred to DOI, the municipality of Vieques and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust on May 1, 2001.

Various areas of the island may be contaminated by solid and/or hazardous waste resulting from decades of military activity including training exercises, equipment maintenance, supply storage and waste disposal. Working with EPA and the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB), the Navy is conducting environmental investigations of its previously-owned property under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to determine what cleanup actions are needed. Prior to the inclusion of the site in the NPL, the environmental investigations were being performed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). 

What’s New?

Site Management Plan

The Site Management Plan [PDF 5.4 MB, 76 pp] describes the environmental and munitions sites that currently have been identified on the former Naval facilities on Vieques Island and summarizes the response actions and documents that are planned during Fiscal Years 2008-2009.

The Site Management Plan also provides the anticipated schedules for response actions that have been agreed to by the Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB), and U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Site Management Plan for Vieques is available for public review from October 14 through November 15, 2008. Members of the public are invited to review the Draft Final Site Management Plan, which is available at:

Biblioteca Electrónica (Electronic Library)
Calle Carlos LeBrum #449, Isabel Segunda, Vieques
Phone: 787-741-2114
From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm – Monday through Friday

and

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Vieques Field Office
Carr. 200 Km. 0.4
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Phone: 787-741-5201
From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm - Monday through Friday

Send your written comments, no later than November 15, 2008 , to:

Mr. Kevin Cloe, Code EV31KRC
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic
6506 Hampton Boulevard
Norfolk, Virginia 23508-1278
Fax: (757) 322-4805 Email: kevin.cloe@navy.mil

Plan de Manejo del Sitio

El Plan de Manejo del Sitio (en inglés) [PDF 5.4 MB, 76 pp] (SMP, por sus siglas en inglés) describe los sitios ambientales y de municiones que se han identificado hasta la fecha en las antiguas Instalaciones Navales en Vieques y resume las acciones de respuesta y los documentos que se planifican para el año fiscal 2008-2009.

El SMP también proporciona el cronograma de actividades anticipado para las acciones de respuesta que la Marina, la Agencia de Protección Ambiental Federal (EPA), la Junta de Calidad Ambiental (JCA) y el Departamento del Interior de los EEUU han acordado se realicen.

El SMP de Vieques está disponible para revisión del público desde el 14 de octubre hasta el 15 de noviembre de 2008. Se invita a los miembros del público a revisar el Borrador Final del SMP, el que está disponible en:

Biblioteca Electrónica
Calle Carlos LeBrum #449, Isabel Segunda, Vieques
Teléfono: 787-741-2114
De 8:00 am a 4:00 pm – Lunes a Viernes

Envíe sus comentarios escritos no mas tarde del 15 de Noviembre de 2008 a:
Sr. Kevin Cloe, Code EV31KRC
Naval Facilities Engineering Command Atlantic
6506 Hampton Boulevard
Norfolk, Virginia 23508-1278
Fax: (757) 322-4805 Correo electrónico: kevin.cloe@navy.mil

Draft Final Prescribed Burn Plan

The Prescribed Burning Plan describes the procedures and controls established for the burning process in the Live Impact Area (LIA) and East Conservation Area (ECA), which follows a Time-Critical Removal Action (TCRA) for a safe removal of munitions present on the surface at these sites. The purpose of the prescribed burn plan is to provide a level of protection to workers performing MEC (Munitions and Explosives of Concern) clearance and associated support and oversight responsibilities such as vegetation clearance.

On August 22, 2008, the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB) and the United State Department of the Navy (Navy) issued a public notice to inform of a 30 days public comment period of EQB's intention to preliminary approve a variance under the Puerto Rico Regulations for the Control of Atmospheric Pollution (RCAP) to allow open burning of vegetation at the Former Live Impact Area, Former Vieques Naval Training Range, Vieques, Puerto Rico. EQB also issued the Technical Evaluation Document for the Development of the Draft Preliminary Variance. On September 24, 2008, EQB held a public hearing at the Multiple Use Center in Isabel II, Vieques, Puerto Rico. The public comment period has been extended until October 10, 2008. Written comments (in Spanish) can be sent to the following address:

Junta de Calidad Ambiental
Oficina de Vistas públicas
Apartado 11488
San Juan, PR 00910

A Time Critical Removal Action (TCRA) of surface unexploded ordnance (UXO) is being implemented at the former Live Impact Area (LIA) and the Eastern Conservation Area (ECA) on the eastern end of the island of Vieques. Blow-in-place (BIP) activities are currently being used and have been used to clear UXO from accessible portions of the LIA. However, there are portions of the LIA and ECA that are covered by dense, low vegetation that are being proposed by the Navy to be cleared by prescribed burning to allow safe removal of the UXO. These areas are known to contain higher concentrations of Improved Conventional Munitions (ICMs – sub-munitions) which are more sensitive to handle.
Nonagricultural prescribed burning is not an allowable activity under the Puerto Rico air quality rules. The Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB) has stated that a variance will be required to perform the prescribed burns for the TCRA on the LIA and ECA. In order to grant this variance, the Puerto Rico EQB and EPA requested the Navy to conduct Air Dispersion Modeling, prepare a Prescribed Burn Plan, and Air Monitoring Plan to demonstrate that no significant impact to the human health and the environment will result from the open burning of vegetation.

The following are available for public review and comments:

LocalNavigation

Jump to main content.