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Para ver este documento en español, oprima aquí. Contract To Yield $150 Million For P.R.House Approves Bill To Transfer Lands To Municipality Of ViequesPerez Gimenez Denies Kennedy's Stop Order Request Against NavyNavy Limits Facility's Role At ViequesCongress: Parties To Present Status Formulas By Feb. 15, 2001Kennedy Asks Judge To Stop Navy BombingFormer Voters Renew RegistrationsCongress Approves $2.5 Million To Educate P.R. On StatusNavy Practices Caused No Damages******* U.S. Navy Computer Contract To Yield $150 Million For P.R. October 12, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - Puerto Rico will receive about $150 million as part of a $6.9 billion contract between the U.S. government and the EDS International Corp. to develop the U.S. Navy's Intranet system, EDS officials said. Once completed, the Intranet system will link some 360,000 users throughout the Navy's 300 facilities in the world, including Roosevelt Roads. According to published reports, local companies would also benefit from the project, which is expected to subcontract 40% of the work to local small and mid-sized operations. ******* House Approves Bill To Transfer Lands To Municipality Of Vieques October 11, 2000 Washington - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to transfer 4,000 acres of land from the U.S. Navy to the municipality of Vieques. According to the legislation, lands that have been used to store U.S. military ammunition - a total of nearly 8,000 acres - would be handed over to the government of Vieques, the U.S. Interior Department and the Puerto Rican Conservation Trusteeship. However, contrary to President Bill Clinton's original plan, the land transfer will not be effected until May 1, 2001, according to a conference committee agreement between the Senate and House. ******* Perez Gimenez Denies Kennedy's Stop Order Request Against Navy By Ivonne Garcia October 11, 2000 The U.S. District Court on Wednesday denied a request for a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Navy in Vieques by environmentalist lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr., saying the case likely would not prevail on its merits. ******* Navy Limits Facility's Role At Vieques by Iván Román October 11, 2000 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A coalition of environmentalists, labor groups and activists won a partial victory Tuesday when the U.S. Navy agreed to stop storing and blowing up munitions and hazardous military waste in an open-air facility near the Navy`s target range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. ******* Congress: Parties To Present Status Formulas By Feb. 15, 2001 October 10, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - Local political parties have until Feb. 15 next year to present their status definitions to the U.S. Congress for approval, according to the bill passed by federal legislators that allocates $2.5 million to Puerto Rico's State Elections Commission (SEC) to develop an educational campaign on status alternatives for Puerto Rico. White House aide Jeffrey Farrow said the measure opens a "new era" in the process of solving the status issue in Puerto Rico, according to published reports. Once approved by Congress, the educational campaign may start by March 31, 2001, published reports said. Farrow said the measure allows Puerto Rico residents to choose a final political status through a plebiscite, a convention or even a Constitutional Assembly. ******* Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Asks Judge To Stop Navy Bombing Of Vieques By CHRIS HAWLEY October 10, 2000 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Charging six decades of explosions have harmed endangered sea creatures and contaminated land, environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday asked a federal judge to stop U.S. Navy exercises on Puerto Rico 's outlying island of Vieques . Kennedy, acting as senior counsel for the New York-based National Resources Defense Council, filed a 55-page complaint and hundreds of pages of evidence as the Navy prepares for a new round of exercises around Vieques this month. "The law is so clear ... there is no doubt that the Navy broke the law," Kennedy told reporters after a three-hour meeting in the chambers of federal Judge Juan Perez Gimenez to argue the case with U.S. attorneys. "They wouldn't get away with this in the U.S. If they tried to do this in New York, people would be all over them," he said. Navy spokesman Jeff Gordon called the accusations unfounded: "Attempts to portray the Navy's land as destroyed or the Navy's operations as destroying the environment are completely out of proportion and inappropriate." At the heart of the lawsuit are claims the Navy violated the Endangered Species Act and strong-armed the Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies into ignoring violations. ******* Many Former Voters Renew Registrations By Iván Román October 8, 2000 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A sharp rise in the number of former voters in Puerto Rico who appear to be heading back to the polls has some here worrying how it will play out Nov. 7. On an island with about 4 million people, more than 2.4 million registered to vote in races for more than 1,000 elected offices -- including governor. About 216,000 of those are people who had been taken off the rolls because they didn`t vote in the 1996 general election, but then signed up again by the Sept. 18 deadline. Theories abound about why that happened in this contentious election. Many wonder whether it will benefit the governing New Progressive Party, which favors statehood, the Popular Democratic Party, which defends the Commonwealth status, or the Puerto Rican Independence Party. ******* Congress Approves $2.5 Million To Educate P.R. On Status Choices October 8, 2000 SAN JUAN (AP) - The U.S. Congress approved an allocation of $2.5 million of federal funds to educate Puerto Rico voters about the alternatives on political status, clearing the path for another plebiscite, an action that the government described as "historical," according to published reports. "This is the first time in 102 years that Congress approves a bill allowing Puerto Rico, through a plebiscite proposed at the federal level, to choose among realistic (status) alternatives," said Alfonso Aguilar, who heads the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs office in Washington. "It is a historical step forward for Puerto Rico." ******* Government Study: Navy Practices Caused No Damages In August By Proviana Colon Diaz October 7, 2000 SAN JUAN 10/07/00 - The first official study made by the government of Puerto Rico on the U.S. Navy's military practices in Vieques concluded that the exercises held during the month of August were in accordance to the law and the protocol established by federal and state authorities. The study was conducted in Vieques during the military exercises of August 3-25. Specialists took samples on the sound measures and vibrations as bombs were dropped. Observation points were established in the sectors of Monte Carmelo, Bravos de Boston, Destino and the town's public square. On average, the noise levels registered were between 51.88 and 54.5 decibels. The maximum level permitted by the rules on sound contamination is 60 decibels, making the practices acceptable, officials said. Furthermore, government officials concluded that there is neither sound contamination nor significant environmental impacts, although they did acknowledge that they would continue monitoring the practices.
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