Latest Developments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Judge’s Decision Means More Children will Die in Vieques and Threatens the Safety of All Americans
American Citizens of Vieques, an island of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, Live with Disease and Death as a Result of Over 60 Years of U.S. Military Weapons Testing
(ARLINGTON, VA) Yesterday, Judge Daniel Dominguez dismissed the claims of more than 7,000 Viequenses, seeking compensation from the Navy in federal district court for illnesses caused by the toxic contamination of their island following more than six decades of naval bombardment and weapons testing on their island [click here for history]. The dismissal came despite evidence that the Navy violated the Clean Water Act over 102 times, and the toxic substances which violated the CWA had traveled through the food chain and are in the bodies of the plaintiffs making them sick.
“It is sad and unfortunate that the Federal District Court in Puerto Rico has denied justice to our people of Vieques. President Barack Obama pledged that, once in office, he would work to address the health crisis on the island, and I will continue to fight for remedies to the health and environmental crisis in our Island,” said Evelyn Delerme, Mayor of Vieques.
The more than 9,000 American citizens who live in Vieques have a 30% higher rate of cancer, 381% higher hypertension, and 95% higher cirrhosis of the liver than the inhabitants of Puerto Rico’s main island. Hair testing has shown that the vast majority of Viequenses suffer from at least one form of heavy metal poisoning from toxins found in the weapons used on the island.
“I don’t believe it is the law in America that any Government agency can harm American citizens, purposefully hide its actions, and be shielded by sovereign immunity. We will appeal this decision,” said John Eaves, the lawyer representing the island in this case. “The most inalienable of our rights is to life. The court’s decision that the Government can violate its own laws and deprive its citizens of life without fear of accountability stands against the most fundamental principles upon which this nation was founded.”
Judge Dominguez found that the Navy failed to report activities that posed a health risk to the population; that Congress had passed laws saying that the Navy “shall” report those risks to the EPA; and that the Navy’s failure to follow those laws would override the Justice Department’s claim to sovereign immunity. However, the court ruled that despite the fact that the law explicitly required that the Navy “shall” report the health risks, the law left the means by which the Navy did so up to the discretion of the Secretary. In an extreme reach of legal logic, the Judge set the dangerous legal precedent that the Government’s discretion over how to report health risks allowed it to choose not to report the health risks, and that the Navy therefore did not actually violate the intent of the law and that its claim to sovereign immunity stood.
“When Justice is both blind and heartless, it has failed,” said Eric Sapp, Executive Director of the American Values Network. “Our government does not dispute its responsibility for the suffering on Vieques. Instead our Justice Department is seeking to deny justice using legal technicalities. This is a simple question of right and wrong and what America stands for. There is a fund already in place to help these people. It’s time President Obama did right by the Viequenses and directed Justice to stop fighting and give the people the help they deserve.”
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Contact: Eric Sapp/American Values Network/703-863-6403/
