Vieques Sustainability Task Force
The Vieques Sustainability Task Force, part of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico, is a group that was created to advance sustainable economic development and job creation projects as well as Superfund remediation and clean up on Vieques in a safe, responsible and protective manner. Members of the Task Force coordinate, promote and accelerate projects that include: innovative technology for cleanup; guidance of Superfund cleanup priorities; energy efficiency and clean renewable energy on the island; green tourism; increased protection of Mosquito Bay (a bioluminescent bay); waste reduction, recycling and composting programs; use of electric vehicles; improvements in mass transit; and greater access to health care and environmental education. The Task Force is expected to lead to new initiatives as well as faster and more impactful implementation of existing efforts and development planning processes.
Click below for access the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status and reports on the VSTF.
Click below for access the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status and reports on the VSTF.
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November 2014 Municipal Remarks 
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May 2013 
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April 2013 
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May 2012 
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March 2011 
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Related News
- Toxic Laguna, Arturo Massol Deya (Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas) [Published in The New Day / June 11, 2014 / Page 65]
It would be foolish and irresponsible to ask whether one of the most polluted places on Earth should be in direct contact with the Caribbean Sea. It seems incredible but this gap has been open to the sea for the past 10 years. After closing the polygon, sometime between 2004 and 2005, they 'opened’ a channel 50 meters away. Some say the canal was built mechanically. Others say that the accumulation of rainwater caused a hydraulic pressure which forced the reopening of the lagoon to the sea. Be natural or deliberate, federal and local agencies were advised in writing it in 2005 but did nothing.
The management of contaminated sites requires first establishing a containment plan. For example, placing absorbent or sand barriers after the oil spill represents a primary management. But no, here the opposite is done. For example, there is burning of vegetation is causing unnecessary dispersion through the air; detonation of bombs in the open; no use of straw or physical barriers as is required by contractors, which exposes land for construction. Worse, with astonishing passivity, the physical connectivity of the Laguna Anones and the Caribbean Sea is contemplated daily.
What may represent the worst environmental crime in the history of our country and the Caribbean region is again denounced in 2013. Yet today agencies continue to be secretive in conducting studies and surveys to determine what to do. It is not only rainwater that feeds the lagoon, as is argued by federal agencies. The channel opening causes the input and output casual seawater, washing all the toxic waste in the Caribbean Sea. Measurements of salinity in the lagoon confirm that much of the volume of water in the lakes is of marine origin, not rain.
Eleven years after closure of the polygon, fishing in Vieques has dropped by 90 percent according to data from DNER. This decrease could be attributed, in part, to global warming, the government abandoning its commitment to developing Vieques, or corruption of alleged fishing associations where millions of dollars disappeared. What is unknown is how much toxic serum has been contributed to Laguna Anones.
To the federal and local agencies, or the Governor himself, to relegate yourselves to 'study' to decide whether to order or not to close the channel that connects the toxic lagoon to the Caribbean Sea is a criminal act of environmental injustice.
The principle of containment must be first next to the precautionary principle. What do you expect to order the complete closure of the channel? It is absurd to contemplate this place is directly connected to the sea. At this time we are not even asking to be clean. What is demanded is for us to not continue polluting the sea every day.
- Draft Final Site Management Plan
Please direct any comments to either the Navy or EPA points of contact listed in the table below:
Kevin Cloe Daniel Rodríguez
NAVFAC Atlantic Remedial Project Manager
Code EV42KC US EPA - Vieques Field Office
6506 Hampton Blvd. [email protected]
Norfolk, VA 23508-1278 Tel.: 787-741-5201
[email protected] Fax: 787-741-5017
(757) 322-4736 787-671-9879
- Vieques Island/Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area
As part of the ongoing work at the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area - Vieques Superfund site, the Navy is investigating contamination in the Laguna Anones area, which is part of a larger area that is being investigated. Under EPA and Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board oversight, the Navy has been evaluating this area for several years to determine if chemical contamination or munitions are present. As part of this work, soil in areas immediately surrounding the lagoon (see Map [PDF 877 KB, 1 pp]) was sampled in March 2013. Read more here. - Representantive Velázquez Requests $40 Million for Vieques Cleanup, News from Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez, March 20, 2013
Members of the Vieques Sustaibaility Task Force
- Environmental Finance Center at Syracuse University
- Municipality of Vieques
- Office of Hon. Pedro R. Pierluisi, US Congress
- Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Commerce
- Puerto Rico Department of Transportation
- Puerto Rico Energy Affairs Administration
- Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board
- Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration
- Puerto Rico Governor's Office
- Puerto Rico Solid Waste Management Authority
- US Department of Agriculture
- US Department of Commerce
- US Department of Energy
- US Department of Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service
- US Department of Transportation
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- US Department of Health and Human Services
- US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency
- US Navy
- US Office of National AIDS Policy
- Vieques Conservation and Historic Trust
