PR: No civil disobedience to clean up Vieques

SAN GERMAN (AP) – Gov. Sila Calderon said it is unnecessary to start new acts of civil disobedience to demand the cleanup of the former military land on Vieques.

Dozens of demonstrators camped out on the land now controlled by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to urge that Vieques lands get decontaminated.

Calderon acknowledged that the cleanup process will take time, but called on the people of Vieques to trust the mechanism of the Federal Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund what will be used to that end.

"We have been very aggressive with federal agencies and we must remember that the land has been contaminated for 60 years,” the governor said.

"It won’t take 60 years to clean up Vieques, but the process will take time,” she added.

The governor said she has recently met with high-ranking EPA officials and with personnel from the U.S. Management & Budget Office to deal with the allocation of funds to clean the contaminated areas.