(1) Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, is located ap-
proximately 17 miles from the east coast of Puerto 
Rico’s main island, and the Navy conducted ship-to- 
shore bombing exercises and other live-fire training 
activities for over 70 years in unpopulated areas of 
Culebra and its surrounding waters. 
(2) In 1975, Congress required the Navy to 
close its operations on Culebra in response to long- 
standing concerns among the residents about safety, 
health, and environmental risks. The Navy moved its 
operations to nearby training facilities on Vieques 
Island, which were closed in 2003 due to similar 
concerns. 
(3) Although the Navy’s facilities on Culebra 
closed in 1975, the Department of Defense did not 
begin to address the cleanup of these areas until 
Congress enacted specific authorities for the cleanup 
of former United States military sites in section 211 
of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization 
Act of 1986 (Public Law 99–499). With these au-
thorities, the Army Corps of Engineers added 
Culebra to the Formerly Used Defense Sites Pro-
gram in 1991, and for several years thereafter, per-
formed relatively limited cleanup of unexploded ord-
nance from the surface. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:34 Apr 07, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1958.IH
H1958
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
(4) In 2003, the Governor of Puerto Rico, Sila 
M. Caldero´n, requested that the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency add both Culebra and Vieques to the 
National Priorities List of the most hazardous sites. 
In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency 
added Vieques to the National Priorities List, but 
delayed its listing decision for Culebra. Instead, 
Puerto Rico and the Army Corps of Engineers de-
cided to address the cleanup of Culebra under a sep-
arate agreement, under which the Army Corps of 
Engineers has begun to plan a more comprehensive 
removal of unexploded ordnance on Culebra. 
(5) The Army Corps of Engineers had spent 
$11,100,000 as of the end of fiscal year 2007 on the 
cleanup of Culebra and estimated that another 
$92,600,000 would be needed to complete planned 
cleanup actions. These amounts pale in comparison 
to the $77,600,000 the Navy has already spent, and 
the $253,100,000 the Navy plans to spend in the fu-
ture, to complete the cleanup of Vieques. 
(6) The more limited scope of the cleanup on 
Culebra has become a rising issue. The greater fund-
ing for Vieques is not based on differing conditions 
on the islands. Both were used for the same types 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:34 Apr 07, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1958.IH
H1958
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
of training exercises for several decades and are like-
ly to contain similar hazards. 
(7) Instead, the discrepancy is primarily attrib-
utable to the fact that certain of the most potentially 
hazardous areas on Culebra, including the North-
west Peninsula and Flamenco Beach, have been ex-
cluded from Federal cleanup plans because the 
Corps of Engineers maintains that a 1974 Federal 
law prohibits the Army Corps of Engineers from 
conducting cleanup in those areas. 
(8) Section 204(c) of the Military Construction 
Authorization Act, 1974 (Public Law 93–166; 87 
Stat. 668) prohibited land uses in the ‘‘present’’ (at 
the time of enactment) bombardment zone on 
Culebra that would require cleanup at the expense of 
the Federal Government. 
(9) Puerto Rico asserts that specific authorities 
for the cleanup of former United States military 
sites enacted later by Congress in Public Law 99– 
499 superseded this prohibition. Despite these later 
authorities, the Army Corps of Engineers maintains 
that the prohibition still stands to exclude certain 
areas of Culebra from Federal cleanup funds that 
otherwise are available to all other former United 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:34 Apr 07, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H1958.IH
H1958
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
States military sites in the 50 States and United 
States territories. 
(10) Based on its interpretation, the Army 
Corps of Engineers has not included the Northwest 
Peninsula and Flamenco Beach in the scope of its 
cleanup plan for Culebra. Because the Northwest 
Peninsula and Flamenco Beach likely contain the 
greatest amounts of unexploded ordnance on 
Culebra, public concern has grown about the exclu-
sion of these areas from the cleanup effort. 
(11) Section 2872 of H.R. 5658 of the 110th 
Congress, as passed by the House of Representa-
tives, would have repealed the prohibition in the 
1974 statute, allowing the Army Corps of Engineers 
to expend funds to address potential human health, 
safety, and environmental risks in the Northwest Pe-
ninsula and Flamenco Beach. 
(b) REPEAL.—Section 204 of the Military Construc-
tion Authorization Act, 1974 (Public Law 93–166; 87 
Stat. 668) is amended by striking subsection (c). 
Æ 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
00:34 Apr 07, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H1958.IH
H1958
wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS