U.S.

Navy Identifies Vieques Alternatives

April 30, 2003 / 8:02 PM EDT / AP

The Navy will expand its use of bombing ranges in Florida and elsewhere on the U.S. mainland when it abandons a site on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques in May, defense officials said Friday.

Navy officials were notifying Congress that they had certified alternatives to Vieques for conducting live-fire and other training, and an official announcement was planned soon, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Navy has used Vieques as its main Atlantic Coast training range for 56 years but it has been hindered by local protests stemming from an April 1999 bombing accident that killed a civilian security guard. In January 2000 the Clinton administration set a May 2003 target date for withdrawing from Vieques, but Congress required the Navy to certify that alternative training sites were at least as good as Vieques.

For years the Navy and Marine Corps asserted that there were no satisfactory alternatives to Vieques, which it considered the crown jewel of training facilities for naval air and amphibious forces in the Atlantic Fleet.

Many Puerto Ricans objected to the continued use of Vieques, citing environmental and other risks.

Among the main alternatives certified by Navy Secretary Gordon England as "equivalent or superior" to Vieques:

Pinecastle naval bombing range in Florida's Ocala National Forest near Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The Navy has used nearly 6,000 acres of the 382,000-acre forest for target practice for decades under a special-use permit from the U.S. Forest. Last year it received a 20-year extensive of the permit.

Avon Park Air Force range in south-central Florida. It is a 106,000-acre bombing and gunnery range about 10 miles southeast of the city of Avon Park.

Eglin Air Force Base, about seven miles from Fort Walton Beach in the Florida panhandle. Eglin has hundreds of acres of ranges and other facilities and three active airfields: Eglin Main, Duke and Hurlburt. In recent years the Navy has done some live bombing at Eglin ranges.

Tyndall Air Force Base, about 12 miles east of Panama City, Fla., home of the 325th Fighter Wing and the Southeast Air Defense Sector.

An at-sea Navy range off the coast of Key West, Fla.

The Navy also is considering using Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point on the North Carolina coast.

Before it abandons Vieques in May, the Navy intends to use it for training naval forces that may be deployed for a war against Iraq. These include the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group, which is expected to train there in late January. Under an agreement with the Puerto Rican government, no live ordnance is used in training at Vieques.