NATIONWIDE —REP. NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ, who represents Northern Brooklyn, on Thursday filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Department of Defense to report on the renewed military exercises taking place across the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico and on the status of the long-delayed environmental cleanup in Vieques. Velázquez, who is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, filed the amendment as more than 8,100 troops conduct military exercises on the island through August.
The report, to be filed within 180 days, would have to detail the national security concerns behind the renewed exercises, whether those exercises involve the disposal of munitions in Vieques and how they may delay the cleanup. It also requires DOD to publish semiannually a public dashboard tracking cleanup funding, timelines, and the status of remediation at each site.
Local reports released last November indicated that military personnel had been authorized to destroy inoperable ammunition in Vieques, an island-municipality still dealing with the long-term environmental damage left behind by decades of U.S. Navy operations.
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