Vieques Bomb Targets Proposed for Superfund Listing

The Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area (AFWTA) on and around the islands of Vieques and Culebra, Puerto Rico used for live fire training for 100 years may soon be declared a Superfund site. Responding to the request of Puerto Rico Governor Sila Calderon, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Friday proposed to add the area to the list of the country's most contaminated hazardous waste sites.

The listing would make the site eligible for federal cleanup funding. Contaminants of the land and water may include depleted uranium, mercury, lead, copper, magnesium, lithium, perchlorate, TNT, napalm, PCBs, solvents and pesticides, the EPA said. Protesters camped, demonstrated and were arrested repeatedly until the Navy agreed to cease the live fire practice in 2003.

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