Vieques Recovery and Development Act of 2011 - Directs the President to acquire or convert real property located within the Municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico, for the purpose of constructing: (1) a specialty hospital that provides treatment for the sick and injured; and (2) a toxins research center that studies the existence, prevalence, and impact of toxins in Vieques, provides recommendations regarding the prevention of exposure to harmful levels of such toxins, and shares findings with medical personnel at such hospital.
Requires the President to: (1) operate and maintain the quality of the hospital and research center; (2) develop an interagency plan to ensure that such residents benefit from improved access to federal programs, federal discretionary funding sources, and federal agency technical assistance; and (3) appoint a federal ombudsman for Vieques, who shall monitor the development and implementation of such plan.
Prohibits the President from carrying out this Act until the administrative claims filed on May 18, 2009, by the Mayor of Vieques for money damages against the Department of the Navy have been settled or compromised.
Authorizes a $10,000 award for settlement of any personal injury claim filed before enactment of this Act by an individual who was a resident of Vieques during or after the Navy's use of chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals for military training operations on the island, including for illness or death arising from such use. Increases awards for individuals who submit medical documentation of contracting a disease that is life-threatening, chronic, or related to heavy metals toxicity. Deems any award payment to be full settlement of the claim and a complete release by the individual of such claim against the United States or its employees.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1645 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1645
To construct a specialty hospital and toxins research center on the
island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 15, 2011
Mr. Rothman of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Pierluisi, Mr. Thompson of
Mississippi, and Mr. Gutierrez) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to
the Committees on Energy and Commerce and the Judiciary, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To construct a specialty hospital and toxins research center on the
island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Vieques Recovery and Development Act
of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Vieques is an island municipality of Puerto Rico,
measuring approximately 21 miles long by 4 miles wide, and
located approximately 8 miles east of the main island of Puerto
Rico.
(2) Vieques is home to nearly 10,000 United States
citizens, about 65 percent of whom live below the Federal
poverty line.
(3) The average monthly unemployment rate in Vieques was
21.9 percent in 2009, 17.7 percent in 2010, and 15.7 percent in
January 2011.
(4) Residents of Vieques are currently served by a single
primary and urgent care facility, the Susana Centeno Family
Health Center, and residents must travel off-island to obtain
many essential medical services, including most types of
emergency care.
(5) The predominant means of transporting passengers and
goods between Vieques and the main island of Puerto Rico is by
ferry boat service, and over the years the efficacy of this
service has frequently been disrupted by launch delays and
mechanical problems.
(6) The United States Navy maintained a presence on the
eastern and western portions of the island of Vieques, Puerto
Rico, for nearly 60 years and used parts of the island as a
training range during those years, dropping over 80 million
pounds of ordnance and employing virtually every type of
ammunition and ordnance available to the Navy since World War
II.
(7) Residents living on the areas expropriated by the
Federal Government for the Navy's use were required to relocate
to the central portion of the island.
(8) According to records of the Federal Government and
testimony of Navy personnel, the island of Vieques, Puerto
Rico, has high levels of heavy metals and has been exposed to
chemical weapons and toxic chemicals, including napalm, agent
orange, depleted uranium, white phosphorous, arsenic, mercury,
lead, aluminum, cadmium, antimony, magnesium, TNT, PCBs, RDX,
barium, cyanide, solvents, and pesticides. All of these weapons
and chemicals have been deployed on the island of Vieques,
Puerto Rico, in the interest of training for the defense of our
Nation.
(9) The Navy established the Vieques Naval Training Range
in eastern Vieques, which consisted of two facilities: (1) the
Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, which was used for
ship-to-shore and aerial bombing exercises, and comprised a
Live Impact Area and a Secondary Impact Area; and (2) the
Eastern Maneuver Area, which was used primarily for ground-
based training involving smaller munitions.
(10) The Navy also established the Naval Ammunition Support
Detachment in western Vieques to store munitions used in its
training in eastern Vieques and to dispose of obsolete or
damaged munitions.
(11) In 2000, the Navy reported that it had used 1,862 tons
of ordnance annually in training exercises on Vieques from 1983
to 1998.
(12) In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2001, Congress directed the Navy to close its facilities
in western Vieques and to transfer approximately 4,000 acres of
that property to the Municipality of Vieques, approximately
3,100 acres to the Department of the Interior, and
approximately 800 acres to the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust.
(13) In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2002, Congress authorized the Navy to close its training
facilities on eastern Vieques if equivalent training facilities
were made available elsewhere and directed the Navy, upon
closure, to transfer the nearly 15,000 acres of that property
to the Department of the Interior.
(14) In January 2003, the Navy certified to Congress that
alternative training sites had been identified and confirmed
that training operations would cease on Vieques by May 2003.
(15) The Navy continues to be responsible for administering
and funding the cleanup of munitions and contamination that
resulted from its past activities on Vieques, subject to
oversight by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, an agency of the
government of Puerto Rico.
(16) Following the closure of the Navy's facilities in
2003, public concerns were raised as to how funding for the
cleanup of Vieques would be prioritized among the hundreds of
other contaminated military installations in the United States
for which the Navy is responsible.
(17) Factors motivating these concerns included the safety
risks from explosives in munitions that had accumulated over
decades of live-fire training, and the potential human health
and ecological risks from contaminants that may have leached
from munitions and other hazardous wastes into the environment.
(18) In February 2005, EPA listed Vieques on the National
Priorities List (NPL) of the most hazardous sites in the United
States, elevating its priority for federally-funded cleanup.
(19) The NPL site listing includes the former Vieques Naval
Training Range in eastern Vieques and the former Naval
Ammunition Support Detachment in western Vieques, as well as
off-shore areas where munitions may have entered the water
during past training exercises.
(20) As of August 2010, the Navy had recovered and
destroyed 34,642 live munitions on Vieques.
(21) Through the end of Fiscal Year 2009, the Navy had
spent a total of $120.4 million to support the cleanup of its
former facilities on Vieques, and had estimated that an
additional $269.9 million would be needed from Fiscal Year 2010
into the future to complete all planned cleanup actions.
(22) The Navy has estimated that remedial actions to clean
up unexploded ordnance, other discarded munitions, and
munitions constituents will not be completed until Fiscal Year
2020, and has estimated that the entire cleanup of Vieques will
not be completed until Fiscal Year 2045.
(23) Although cleanup efforts are underway on Vieques,
island residents have continued to express concern about the
health impacts from long-term exposure to environmental
contamination as a result of decades of Navy operations on
Vieques.
(24) In 2007, after exhausting their administrative
remedies, over 7,000 residents of Vieques brought a lawsuit
against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act
(FTCA), seeking monetary compensation for damages to their
health that they claimed were caused by exposure to
contamination resulting from past Navy operations.
(25) The residents of Vieques have based their tort claims
on EPA-documented past violations by the Navy of Clean Water
Act discharge permit requirements and other environmental
statutes; findings by independent researchers who have
attributed elevated levels of contaminants on Vieques to
decades of Navy operations; insufficient notification by the
Navy of the release of these contaminants into the environment;
and higher rates of occurrence of certain diseases among
residents of Vieques, including cancer, cirrhosis,
hypertension, and diabetes, as reported by numerous
researchers.
(26) The residents of Vieques originally filed their claims
in the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia, which subsequently transferred those claims to the
United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
(27) In July 2009, the United States filed a motion to
dismiss the claims based on a lack of subject matter
jurisdiction under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA),
asserting that the Navy's training activities on Vieques fell
within the Act's ``discretionary function exception'', which is
generally intended to prevent the United States from being held
liable for the performance of actions involved in carrying out
the role of the Federal Government and which immunizes the
United States for acts or omissions of its employees that
involve policy decisions, even when such decisions cause harm
to United States Citizens.
(28) In March 2010, a district court judge in the United
States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, in a
brief sympathetic to the people of Vieques, nonetheless granted
the United States' motion to dismiss based on lack of subject
matter jurisdiction, without ruling on the merits of
plaintiffs' substantive claims.
(29) Plaintiffs have appealed that decision to the United
States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and such appeal
is currently pending.
(30) In a report published in November 2009, the Puerto
Rico Cancer Registry, then a part of the Puerto Rico Department
of Health, found elevated levels of various cancers among
residents of Vieques relative to cancer levels in mainland
Puerto Rico.
(31) Numerous other non-Federal studies of Vieques in the
last 2 decades have found elevated levels of contaminants in
the hair samples of Vieques residents, as well as in the
island's soil, food supply, and water.
(32) A 1999 study conducted by Dr. Colon de Jorge reported
that 34 percent of the residents of the island of Vieques,
Puerto Rico, have toxic levels of mercury in their blood
stream, 55 percent are contaminated with lead, 69 percent are
contaminated with arsenic, 69 percent are contaminated with
cadmium, 90 percent are contaminated with aluminum, and 93
percent are contaminated with antimony.
(33) A February 2001 analysis by Carmen Ortiz Roque, MD.,
M.P.H., M.S. reported that the residents of the island of
Vieques, Puerto Rico, when compared to the inhabitants of the
main island of Puerto Rico, are suffering with 30 percent
higher rates of cancer, 381 percent higher rates of
hypertension, 95 percent higher rates of cirrhosis of the
liver, and 41 percent higher rates of diabetes.
(34) Such analysis also reported that the infant mortality
rate on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, when compared to
infants born on the main island of Puerto Rico, is 25 percent
higher.
(35) The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR) conducted a series of Public Health Assessments on
Vieques from 2001 through 2003, examining the potential for
human exposure to contaminants through the air, soil, drinking
water supplies and groundwater, and consumption of fish and
shellfish, and issued a finding of ``No Apparent Public Health
Hazard'' for each of these pathways.
(36) The ATSDR's analytic methods and findings with respect
to Vieques have been subject to criticism.
(37) Critics of ATSDR's methods and findings include Dr.
John P. Wargo, the Chair of the Yale College Environmental
Studies Program and an expert in assessing human exposure to
hazardous substances.
(38) Dr. Wargo, in his 2009 book entitled ``Green
Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human
Health'', expressed the view that the Federal Government has
yet to conduct a ``scientifically defensible study'' with
respect to environmental contamination on Vieques and its
possible health effects on the island's residents.
(39) Various non-Federal researchers who have studied
Vieques in recent years have concluded that environmental
contamination levels are higher than the ATSDR has reported,
that the potential health hazards are therefore likely to be
greater overall than the ATSDR has found, and that there is a
more definitive link between the Navy's past activities and the
various health problems that have been cited by the island's
residents.
(40) In March 2009, the House Committee on Science and
Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held
a hearing in which members of the Subcommittee questioned the
ATSDR's findings about Vieques, raising questions about the
manner in which ATSDR conducted its Public Health Assessments
and the accuracy of the conclusions reached by the agency.
(41) In the summer of 2009, ATSDR indicated that it would
re-examine its prior findings in order to determine whether the
available evidence revealed a greater risk of human exposure to
contamination than previously understood.
(42) In a November 2009 progress report, ATSDR announced
that it expected to ``change some of its earlier conclusions
regarding the safety of environmental exposures on Vieques''.
(43) ATSDR further announced in its November 2009 progress
report that it expected: to recommend biomonitoring to
determine whether persons living on Vieques have been exposed
to harmful chemicals, and, if so, at what levels those
chemicals may be in their bodies; to work with health officials
from Puerto Rico to conduct more in-depth evaluation of health
outcomes; to work with community members and health officials
from Puerto Rico to issue science-based, precautionary
recommendations to protect public health; and to work with
partners in Puerto Rico's health care community to encourage
improved access to health care for residents of Vieques.
(44) In a February 2008 letter to the Governor of Puerto
Rico, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama stated that his
Administration would ``closely monitor the health of the people
of Vieques and promote appropriate remedies to health
conditions caused by military activities conducted by the U.S.
Navy on Vieques'' and ``work to evaluate and expand the
existing land use plan for the former U.S. Navy lands to
prioritize improving the lives of the Island's residents and
the sustainable economic development of the people of
Vieques''.
(45) The March 2011 Report by the President's Task Force on
Puerto Rico's Status stated that ``better health care
facilities are an urgent need for the people of Vieques,''
recommended that ``HHS should work closely with the governments
of Puerto Rico and Vieques to improve the quality of health
care for the residents of Vieques,'' and concluded that ``a
needs assessment should be completed to identify the most
effective and efficient way to ensure that the people of
Vieques receive the care, including expertise in environmental
medicine, that they need''.
(46) The March 2011 Report by the President's Task Force on
Puerto Rico's Status further stated that ``there is much that
the Federal Government can do to improve the quality of life
for the people of Vieques''.
SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF A SPECIALTY HOSPITAL AND TOXINS RESEARCH
CENTER.
(a) In General.--The President, in consultation with the Puerto
Rico College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of Puerto
Rico, Surgeon General of the Navy, Director of the National Institutes
of Health, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and other
appropriate agencies (as determined by the President), shall acquire or
convert real property located within the Municipality of Vieques for
the purpose of constructing a specialty hospital and toxins research
center that--
(1) with respect to the specialty hospital, provides
treatment for the sick and injured, including treatment of
illnesses and diseases that are prevalent in the Municipality
of Vieques, such as cancer, hypertension, and heavy metals
poisoning; and
(2) with respect to the toxins research center--
(A) studies the existence and prevalence of toxins
in the Municipality of Vieques and the impact of such
toxins on plant, animal, and human life;
(B) provides specific recommendations to the local
government and residents of the Municipality of Vieques
regarding the prevention of exposure to harmful levels
of toxins in air, water, and food supplies; and
(C) coordinates research activities and shares
findings on an ongoing basis with medical personnel at
the hospital constructed pursuant to this subsection.
(b) Operations.--The President, or his designee, shall operate and
maintain the quality of the hospital and research center described in
subsection (a) on a continuing basis. In operating such hospital and
research center, the President, or his designee, shall consider the
needs of the residents of the Municipality of Vieques, taking into
account the chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals used by
the Department of the Navy on the island of Vieques and the potential
health impacts associated with use of such weapons, chemicals, and
metals.
(c) Partnerships.--The President, or his designee, shall encourage
partnerships with research universities for the purpose of building
interest in researching--
(1) the many health problems experienced by the residents
of the Municipality of Vieques; and
(2) the long-term effect that the use of the weapons,
chemicals, and heavy metals described in subsection (b) may
have on such residents.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), there are
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to
carry out the provisions of this section.
(2) Limitation of appropriations.--The President may not
carry out the provisions of this section or section 4 until the
administrative claims filed on May 18, 2009, by the Mayor of
the Municipality of Vieques for money damages against the
Department of the Navy have been settled or compromised
pursuant to section 2672 of title 28, United States Code.
SEC. 4. DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL
INTERAGENCY PLAN FOR THE MUNICIPALITY OF VIEQUES.
(a) Federal Interagency Plan.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the President shall develop a
comprehensive Federal interagency plan to ensure that the
residents of the Municipality of Vieques benefit from improved
access to Federal programs, Federal discretionary funding
sources, and Federal agency technical assistance.
(2) Plan contents.--The Federal interagency plan described
in paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) a timeline, if appropriate, for the
implementation of any specific recommendations, with
respect to the island of Vieques, provided by the
President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status;
(B) additional specific recommendations and
instructions to Federal agencies to utilize resources
within their existing authority to assist the people of
the Municipality of Vieques in more expeditiously
achieving their own economic development, education,
environmental, infrastructure, health care, and
community goals, including a specific plan under which
the Federal Government shall convey to the Municipality
all lands that are administered by the Secretary of the
Interior as of the date of the enactment of this Act
and are determined by the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency to be appropriate to be
placed under control of the Municipality; and
(C) a requirement for the development of and
entering into memoranda of understandings between the
Municipality and individual Federal agencies for the
purpose of specifically defining duties and
responsibilities with regard to the implementation of
such plan.
(b) Appointment of Ombudsman.--
(1) In general.--The President shall appoint a Federal
ombudsman for the Municipality of Vieques who shall monitor the
development and implementation of the Federal interagency plan
described in subsection (a).
(2) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the
completion of the Federal interagency plan described in
subsection (a), the Federal ombudsman shall submit to Congress
a report that includes--
(A) a status update on the implementation of such
plan; and
(B) recommendations for optimizing the impact of
such plan.
SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES FOR CERTAIN
RESIDENTS OF THE ISLAND OF VIEQUES, PUERTO RICO.
(a) In General.--An individual shall be awarded $10,000 for a claim
made under this section if such individual--
(1) can demonstrate that he or she was a resident on the
island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, during or after the Department
of the Navy's usage of chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and
heavy metals for military training operations on the island;
and
(2) filed a claim on or before the date of the enactment of
this Act against the United States Government for personal
injury, including illness or death arising from such usage of
such weapons, chemicals, and metals.
(b) Additional Award Amounts Related to Specified Diseases.--Any
individual who--
(1) meets the requirements under subsection (a); and
(2) submits written medical documentation that he or she
contracted a specified disease during or after the Department
of the Navy's usage of chemical weapons, toxic chemicals, and
heavy metals for military training operations on the island of
Vieques, Puerto Rico,
shall, in addition to the amount awarded under subsection (a), be
awarded $50,000 (in the case of an individual who is diagnosed with 1
such disease), $80,000 (in the case of an individual who is diagnosed
with 2 such diseases), or $110,000 (in the case of an individual who is
diagnosed with 3 or more such diseases).
(c) Appointment of Special Master.--The President shall appoint a
special master to resolve expeditiously any disputes between the
Attorney General and an individual with respect to the determination of
an award under this section.
(d) Guidance.--The Attorney General may use as guidance the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101-426) and any
regulation prescribed to interpret, implement, or administer such Act--
(1) in determining whether a claim filed under this section
meets the requirements of this section;
(2) to establish procedures whereby individuals may submit
claims for payments under this section; and
(3) for any other reason that the Attorney General
determines that such guidance is necessary, except that the
provisions of chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code
(relating to settlements and compromises of claims), shall
apply to claims cognizable under this section.
(e) Source of Award.--A payment of an award made to an individual
under this section shall be payable out of any moneys authorized for
appropriation under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, as if
a settlement had been entered into between claimants and the
Government.
(f) Release.--The acceptance by an individual of a payment of an
award under this section shall--
(1) be final and conclusive on the individual;
(2) be deemed to be in full settlement of the claim
described in subsection (a)(2); and
(3) constitute a complete release by the individual of such
claim against the United States and against any employee of the
United States acting in the course of his employment who is
involved in the matter giving rise to the claim.
(g) Specified Disease Defined.--In this section, the term
``specified disease'' means any disease that is life threatening,
chronic, or is related to heavy metals toxicity.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.
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