File #: Res 1394-2000    Version: * Name: Commending President Clinton, Vieques
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Committee: Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 6/5/2000
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution commending President Clinton for issuing an executive order providing extensive and coordinated environmental protection to the nation's shoreline and marine habitats, and calling upon the President to extend the same program to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.
Sponsors: Margarita Lopez, Jose Rivera, Victor L. Robles, Adolfo Carrion, Una Clarke, Martin Malave-Dilan, Pedro G. Espada, Kathryn E. Freed, Lloyd Henry, Guillermo Linares, Helen M. Marshall, Michael C. Nelson, Bill Perkins, Christine C. Quinn, Philip Reed, Angel Rodriguez, Alphonse Stabile, Stephen DiBrienza, June M. Eisland, Kenneth K. Fisher, Wendell Foster, Walter L. McCaffrey, Stanley E. Michels, Annette M. Robinson
Council Member Sponsors: 24
Res. No. 1394 Title Resolution commending President Clinton for issuing an executive order providing extensive and coordinated environmental protection to the nation's shoreline and marine habitats, and calling upon the President to extend the same program to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques. Body By Council Members Lopez, Rivera, Robles, Carrion, Clarke, Malave-Dilan, Espada, Freed, Henry, Linares, Marshall, Nelson, Perkins, Quinn, Reed, Rodriguez and Stabile; also Council Members DiBrienza, Eisland, Fisher, Foster, McCaffrey, Michels and Robinson Whereas, President Clinton has demonstrated commendable leadership in directing the Commerce Department, the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement extensive programs to protect the nation's fragile shoreline and coral reefs on a scale similar to those programs that currently exist to protect large tracts of inland wilderness; and Whereas, This protection aims to preserve marine life, weather and climate systems, and recreational uses provided by the nation's shorelines; and Whereas, President Clinton has the authority to and did pass these initiatives expediently by executive order, and which require for the first time that the different environmental agencies work together in creating and implementing these programs; and Whereas, Since World War II, the United States Navy has operated a training facility on the 9,300 resident Puerto Rican island of Vieques; and Whereas, Serious environmental problems also exist at Vieques, in part because of the naval operations performed on the island; and Whereas, The storage, disposal and firing of live and inert weapons of all classes, including napalm, bullets reinforced with depleted uranium and 500 pound bombs fired from jets travelling at high altitudes and great speed, places not only the island in imminent peril, but also exposes its residents to serious health risks, including cancer, associated with exposure to radioactive materials; and Whereas, The President, having demonstrated excellent leadership in protecting the shoreline and coral reefs of the nation, should also apply the same initiative in protecting the island and its residents from the continuing environmental hazards caused by the United States Navy; and Whereas, A coalition of lawmakers and advocacy groups, both on Puerto Rico and the mainland, has already called upon President Clinton to order the immediate closure of the Navy's facilities on Vieques; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York commends President Clinton for issuing an executive order providing extensive and coordinated environmental protection to the nation's shoreline and marine habitats, and calling upon the President to extend the same program to the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.