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Vieques Island/Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area
Site InformationArea of Concern H Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) Join our Mailing List |
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?
Federal Facility Agreement
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Navy, the Department of the Interior (including Fish and Wildlife Services) and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico signed on September 7, 2007 a Federal Facility Agreement (FFA) for the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area – Vieques Superfund Site. The FFA provides a framework and for the cleanup work on the site under CERCLA.
On September 27, 2007, the FFA was made available for the public review. The comment period closed on November 13, 2007. After evaluating all the comments received, EPA, the Navy and the involved agencies developed Responsiveness Summary addressing the comments received.
Proposed Plan for the Former Power Plant (Area of Concern, AOC H)
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Navy developed a Proposed Plan for the former Power Plant (Area of Concern, AOC H), located on the north side of Highway 200 in western Vieques, Puerto Rico. The Navy transferred the property to the Municipality of Vieques in 2001.
The former Power Plant is a small abandoned building on about 0.5 acre of land. It was used in the 1940s to store electrical generators and diesel fuel, and was used from the 1960s-1980s for fire training operations.
Sampling data and risk assessments for the site, presented in the 2007 Remedial Investigation Report for AOC H, concluded that releases of contamination did not likely occur and that soil, sediment, and groundwater at this site pose no unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. Therefore, EPA and the Navy, in consultation with the Environmental Quality Board (EQB), agree that no further action is needed at this site and that no restrictions on future land use are necessary.
The Proposed Plan for this site does not include or affect actions at other cleanup sites on Vieques.The Proposed Plan was made available for public review and comments. The public comment period closed on March 12, 2008. EPA and the Navy make a final decision for the site after all the comments received from the public have been addressed.
