WASHINGTON

The new head of the federal agency in charge of looking into the health concerns of Vieques residents has promised that there will be no holdup on the revised report on the toxic effects of six decades of Navy bombing, shelling and the use of chemical weapons on the offshore island.

Henry Falk, who has taken over as interim director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, told Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi Thursday that his agency was on schedule to have the report ready by this spring.

The resident commissioner said he was told that the departure of Howard Frumkin, the previous agency head, was not connected to Frumkin’s surprise announcement in November that the ATSDR would revise its earlier findings of the impact of the Navy maneuvers on the small island’s residents.

The last report, issued in 2003, found no significant health risks to the residents, despite the Navy’s use of napalm, depleted uranium and Agent Orange, along with live bombs and ammunition and immense quantities of jet fuel, flame retardant, and other toxic substances. The findings were strongly criticized by health officials, scientists, academics and residents.

In a visit to the island in November, Frumkin indicated that the study was incomplete. The findings, he said, contained “research gaps.” He said that the ATSDR would release a “revised” report in the spring. Frumkin has since been transferred to another department in the agency.

New director Falk “has reiterated the commitment made by the previous ATSDR director … to revise the agency findings on Vieques,” Pierluisi said. “We had a very productive meeting and I am confident that a new report will attend to the concerns of Vieques residents and the scientific community once and for all,” the resident commissioner said.

He added that the agency would also analyze the risk posed by a sunken Navy ship, the USS Killen, which had been used as a target during nuclear testing in the Pacific in the 1940s and then brought to Vieques, where it was fired at for years during Navy practice. The submerged wreck is filled with barrels of an unknown substance.

Meanwhile, the health plight of the residents was given national attention this week with the airing of a two-part series on CNN. Also, several blogs and Web sites renewed interest in the story.

The Huffington Post noted that: “Vieques has the lamentable distinction of being the venue of six decades of training exercises and weapons testing by the U.S. Navy. . .Not surprisingly, Vieques’s 9,000 residents… are a sickly bunch. Cancer rates are 30% higher than they are on Puerto Rico’s main island. In the case of diabetes, that figure is 41%; for hypertension, nearly 400%. And roughly 80% of residents test positive for heavy metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic in their hair.”

The Web site recounted the suit brought by island residents against the Navy and the U.S. Justice Department’s position that “Vieques residents have no standing to sue at all. By invoking the legal notion of ‘sovereign immunity,’ which says the government is above the law, the DOJ is trying to keep the case out of court. Federal attorneys know that if a jury heard this case on the merits, the Navy wouldn’t stand a chance,” said the news Web site.

Pierluisi acknowledged that the ATSDR’s new findings would be “relevant” to the court suits. 

“The U.S. government should do the right thing” if a connection is found between the health problems on the island and the maneuvers, the resident commissioner said.

Asked how that could be done if the government’s argument that it cannot be sued for any health damages to the viequenses is upheld, the resident commissioner said: “If the law prevents compensation, Congress can always appropriate funds” for the victims.