To amend the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 to authorize the Secretary of Defense to decontaminate certain portions of the former bombardment area on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico.

Bill: 113-hr-4705
Sponsor: full_name: Resident Commissioner Pierluisi, Pedro R. [D-PR-At Large]
Introduced: 2014-05-21
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security
Subjects: Caribbean area

Hazardous wastes and toxic substances

Military facilities and property

Puerto Rico

U.S. territories and protectorates
Latest action: action_date: 2014-06-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Readiness.

Summaries:
action_date: 2014-05-21
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>Amends the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 to allow portions of the former bombardment area on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, to be utilized for purposes that would require decontamination at the expense of the United States. (Currently, such utilization is prohibited.)</p> <p>Makes the authority for such utilization applicable to portions of such island identified as having regular public access in the Department of Defense (DOD) study entitled &quot;Study Relating to the Presence of Unexploded Ordnance in a Portion of the Former Naval Bombardment Area of Culebra Island, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,&quot; dated April 20, 2012, which was prepared in accordance with the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.</p>

tv_txt: I 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4705 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 21, 2014 Mr. Pierluisi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 to authorize the Secretary of Defense to decontaminate certain portions of the former bombardment area on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico.

1. Use of former bombardment area on island of Culebra, Puerto Rico (a) Sense of congress It is the sense of Congress that the statutory prohibition restricting environmental cleanup of the former bombardment area on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico, is a unique anomaly for the Department of Defense and its formerly used defense sites. (b) Modification of restriction on Federal decontamination authority Section 204(c) of the Military Construction Authorization Act, 1974 ( Public Law 93–166 ; 87 Stat. 668) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: The first sentence of this subsection shall not apply to the portions of the former bombardment area that were identified as having regular public access in the Department of Defense study entitled Study Relating to the Presence of Unexploded Ordnance in a Portion of the Former Naval Bombardment Area of Culebra Island, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and dated April 20, 2012, which was prepared in accordance with section 2815 of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (Public Law 111–383; 124 Stat. 4464). .