Ensuring DoD cleans up properties it contaminates

Nov 14, 2014

With increasing military activity in the Northern Mariana Islands I want to be sure that the Defense Department is always responsible for cleaning up after itself. That is why I support Section 316 of S. 2410, the Senate version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Section 316 authorizes Defense to clean up areas it has used, even if no longer under military control. This is the situation on the island of Culebra. The military left behind unexploded ordnance on the island when it conveyed the property to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and now refuses to fund a cleanup of this public hazard. So, I joined 29 other Members of Congress in a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees asking them to keep Section 316 when House and Senate conferees hammer out a final version of the 2015 Defense bill. Section 316 gives DOD authority to fund a cleanup and makes clear that is what Congress wants the military to do.