March 26 (UPI) -- Cleanup of islands off Puerto Rico, used by the military as bombing ranges, will take until at least 2031, the Government Accountability Office said on Friday.
Efforts to remove "munitions and hazardous substances" from Vieques and Culebra islands by the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will require a total of $800 million, GAO said in a 59-page report.
"The Navy has completed cleanup at nearly all IRP [Installation Restoration Program] sites on Vieques, but substantial work remains at MMRP [Military Munitions Response Program] sites known or suspected to contain unexploded ordnance, discarded military munitions, or munitions constituents," the report says.
"The Navy has a total of 73 sites for cleanup on Vieques: 54 are IRP sites, and 19 are MMRP sites," according to the report.
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Similarly, 15 former military sites were identified for cleanup on Culebra -- one with no contamination -- but cleanup of the remaining 14 "will continue through fiscal year 2031."
Both islands are off Puerto Rico's eastern coast.
Culebra, including its adjacent water, was used by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from 1903 to 1975 as a live practice range for bombing exercises, weapons testing and small arms fire.
The U.S. Navy used the Vieques Naval Training Range from the 1940s until 2003. Ownership of the acreage was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust.
The Defense Department began cleanup of Culebra in the 1990s, and of Vieques in the mid-2000s.
The report notes that the islands have largely been cleared of hazardous materials, but munitions and unexploded bombs on land and on the seabed remain.
