U.S. Navy officially relinquished its bombing range - Worth Noting - Vieques - Brief Article

Humanist, July-August, 2003 by Karen Ann Gajewski

* On May 1, 2003, the U.S. Navy officially relinquished its bombing range on the Puerto Rican Island of Vieques--ending sixty years' of military war games there and decades of resentment and frustration by civilians. After an extensive cleanup, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will turn the fifteen thousand-acre site into the biggest wildlife refuge in Puerto Rico. But all are not happy. Many who had their lands summarily stripped from them when the navy first moved in don't recognize the right of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to administer to the land. And closure of the bombing range will also have an economic impact as the navy injected an estimated $300 million annually into the economy and was also the largest employer.

Karen Ann Gajewski is a freelance editor and an editorial consultant to the Humanist.