Vieques Protest Backfires

strategypage ^

[budanski]

May 9, 2003: Bowing to political pressure, the Vieques bombing range in Puerto Rico was closed earlier this month. While there are bombing and artillery ranges all over the United States, this was the first time shutting one down because a popular political cause. Eventually the politicians caved. But it turns out there will be consequences. The nearby Roosevelt Roads naval base serves mainly to support ships using the Vieques bombing range. The base is being closed. The base provided 1200 local civilians with jobs, as well as 700 military personnel. The base put $300 million a year into the local economy. The jobs, and the navy ships and aircraft, are moving north to Florida, where an existing bombing range will be used. The weather conditions are not as placid in Florida as in Puerto Rico, meaning there will be more training delays for bad weather, and the waters off Florida are more crowded, meaning more expense to keep areas clear when the warships and warplanes are exercising. The governor of Puerto Rico complained about the loss of the jobs, but he and his fellow Puerto Rican politicians never got behind the navy with support to keep Vieques open, and apparently missed the fact that Roosevelt Roads would close as a result. Moreover, the activists who wanted Vieques closed thought that the bombing range would be cleaned up (unexploded bombs removed) so the area could be bought by developers and tourist facilities built. But cleaning up the old bombs is too expensive, and the Vieques range is being turned over to the Department of the Interior for use as a wildlife refuge. The fence around the range will warn people to keep out, because of hundreds (no one knows exactly how many) unexploded bombs and shells in there. Agitating to get Congress to appropriate billions to clean up the Vieques site is likely to fail, there being so many other more worthy things to do with the money.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Pinatubo blew about 2 months before Clark was to start closing. Had some good friends there at the time and they lost 90% of their belongings during the evacuation. The Filipino Government demanded that we come back and clean up the base, but we said "Sorry, ours for just the next several months and it isn't worth it for us to clean up just to have to abandon again."

[Billthedrill]

No, this was some beach property down on the (I believe) northeast end that had been claimed by the descendants of the families who had originally donated it to the Japanese Navy prior to WWII, who decided that their claim was more valid than that of the U.S. Navy. But there were conflicting claims to the same land, so in a moment of Solomon-like revelation the Navy ceded the land to the local government to resolve the claims of the various ancient - and some of them actually were, by all reports - families.

Well, the dirt came out somewhat later that several competing chains of Japanese resort hotels had their fingers in the claims and in the nearly incessant protests. I believe the Prince was one of these but don't quote me (this was in the early 90s). I don't know what the actual upshot of the affair was, but while I was visiting the government was threatening to do just what happened in the story, turn the land into a wildlife preserve and not let it be developed at all. It was amazing how quickly the tumult and shouting died down after that.

[Enterprise]

Yeah, I probably got the time line a bit wrong.

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

I know when I was there in the late 70's, the navy had to cede half of Cocos island to some Chamarros who proved that they owned it. There was some talk of putting an amusement park there, but I don't know if anything came of it.