Playing war games with our environment

According to Military Toxics Project, since 1940 the US military has used three quarters of the island for military training exercises, including bombardments. There is evidence of heavy metals and other munitions toxins impacting not only on military lands but spilling over to civilian areas.

In the late 1970s, toxic explosives were found in local drinking water. In 2000, “excessive levels of mercury were found in the hair and finger nails of 45 per cent of Vieques residents”. As a result children aged 0-9 were 117 per cent more likely to contract cancer than children of the same age on the main island of Puerto Rico, and this increases to 256 per cent for children aged 10-19 years. Overall, Vieques residents are 73 per cent more likely to suffer heart disease than other Puerto Rico residents, 64 per cent more likely to develop hypertension, 58 per cent more likely to have diabetes, and 18 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with asthma. (See Military Toxics Project, 2001 - Munitions and Ranges.)

The biennial war games “Talisman Saber” are the largest joint US exercises conducted in Australia. They are vital to the US dominance of the region through the Pacific Command in Hawaii and are linked to other military bases in Guam and Alaska. Guam is the major forward base for the US in the north-west Pacific but lacks the landmass for combined air, sea and land training. SWB is now designated as a principle US joint training area, with Guam’s airspace for training extending south into Australia to include SWB and Rockhampton.

Recently the Australian Government changed the way it administers Environmental Protection Legislation, removing the usual need for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for all ADF and foreign military training and infrastructure development in SWBTA if the ADF deem it unnecessary. The EIS is replaced by a Public Environmental Reports (PER), commissioned by the ADF, paid for by the military, reviewed and released by the military. The public input and consultation process is controlled by military and has been privately described by ADF personal as embarrassing and a disgrace.

The Capricorn Coast’s water catchment lies within the SWBTA and was one of the serious omissions of the incomplete and incompetent PER. A massive public relations and advertising campaign is being undertaken by the ADF and residents are being told of the huge benefits “military tourism” will bring.

There is an urgent need for independent monitoring of military activity in the SWBTA, with transparency and consultation if public trust in the ADF and Department of Defence is to be restored.

Serious local and national public concern has resulted in the “2007 National Peace Convergence” to protest in Central Queensland during Talisman Saber 2007 from June 16-24, 2007. National and international support is strong and growing as increasing numbers or scientists, environmentalist, sociologists, business leaders and politicians come to realise what Australia has to lose in sponsoring the USA military’s ambitions in our region.