Navy Suspends Use of Vieques Site

March 1 -- In a concession to Puerto Rico, the Navy hascanceled plans to use a disputed bombing range on the island ofVieques during training this month by an aircraft carrier battlegroup.

The decision was made in light of discussions between the officeof Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the government ofPuerto Rico on a permanent solution to the dispute, said Capt. MikeBrady, a spokesman at U.S. Atlantic Fleet headquarters at Norfolk,Va.

Brady said the decision affects training for the USS Enterprisebattle group and a Marine Corps amphibious ready group led by theUSS Kearsarge.

It is not a permanent halt to training on Vieques, although thatis what Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderon wants.

Retaining Vieques Training Range

"The battle group and the amphibious ready group are expectedto receive an adequate level of training to deploy" as scheduledin late April, Brady said. They will use the waters off Puerto Ricoto do other training, but they will not be able to use Vieques forpractice bombing and naval gunfire training.

In seeking to retain the Vieques training range, the Navy hasargued that it is the only means of providing the training toensure that battle groups begin their overseas deployments fullyready for combat.

On Tuesday, Calderon met with Rumsfeld in his Pentagon office.She told reporters later that she asked him to delay Navy trainingexercises on Vieques until he reviews a study suggesting noise fromthe bombing has caused heart disease among residents.

The Navy calls Vieques the "crown jewel" of its Atlantictraining sites, saying exercises there are vital to nationaldefense because they uniquely combine air, sea and land maneuversthat cannot be done elsewhere.

Protests After Civilian Killed

The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques and its bombing range covers900 acres — under 3 percent of the island. It used live bombs untiltwo went astray in a 1999 practice and killed a civilian guard onthe bombing range.