Serrano Secures $1 Million For Vieques Cleanup

Washington, DC
, December 3, 2004—Congressman José E. Serrano (D-NY) was able to secure $1 million in federal funding to help with the cleanup of

Vieques

Island

,
Puerto Rico
in last week’s omnibus spending bill.  The funding, granted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), enables NOAA to work with the Departments of Defense and Interior, along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to clean up the contaminated former US Navy bombing range on the island.  Serrano, the longest-serving Member of Congress of Puerto Rican descent, is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NOAA.

“I am very happy we have been able to get some much-needed funding to jump-start the cleanup effort on Vieques,” said Congressman Serrano.  “The thousands of Americans living on Vieques have suffered long enough, and now NOAA will be brought in to help with the effort to restore the island.  While ending the bombing on the island was a major victory, we will not have real justice for Vieques until the environmental damage from the years of bombs dropped on the island are cleaned up and the area made safe for human use.”

Despite having several thousand residents, the

island
of
Vieques

had been used as a navy bombing range for nearly six decades.  The tons of accumulated live and spent munitions, including depleted uranium, have left much of the island unsafe for human contact.  Congressman Serrano has been a leader in the fight for peace for Vieques, first in the effort to end the bombing there, and now in the struggle to push the federal government to clean up the island.  Serrano succeeded in inserting language into the latest omnibus bill that provides “$1,000,000 for NOAA to consult with and provide assistance to the Departments of Defense and Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency in carrying out their responsibilities in cleaning up Vieques,
Puerto Rico
.”

“This funding will bring NOAA’s significant expertise to bear to push the cleanup of Vieques forward,” said Serrano.  “I have confidence that NOAA’s scientific know-how and experience will make a real difference for Vieques.  It is my hope that NOAA’s staff will work quickly with the Departments of Defense and Interior and the EPA to get this island cleaned up.”