- description
- # Introduction and Plan
## Overview
This entity is a text segment extracted from a legal document titled *Vieques Remarks*, originally delivered by President William Jefferson Clinton on November 29, 1999. The segment, labeled "Introduction and Plan," spans lines 358 to 381 of the source file and outlines a proposed resolution to the ongoing dispute over U.S. Navy training activities on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. It was extracted from a plain text version of a scanned PDF document and is part of the [Test Collection](arke:01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H).
## Context
The segment follows the [Resolution Announcement](arke:01KG2TTKA7VCXMVW27X7PVK10W), in which President Clinton declares that the future of Navy operations on Vieques will be determined by the people of the island. This section elaborates on the specific plan to resolve the impasse, reflecting broader policy decisions made after a tragic accident in 1999 during naval exercises. The document is part of an official record preserved in a structured archival system, with metadata and segmentation supporting discovery and contextual understanding.
## Contents
This segment details a five-part plan for resolving the Vieques training controversy. It announces a referendum scheduled for March 2002, offering residents a choice between ending Navy training by May 2003 or continuing it under Navy-proposed terms. It outlines interim measures, including resuming training with inert ordnance only, limiting it to 90 days per year, and cutting training time in half. The plan also commits $50 million for infrastructure and housing on land to be transferred on the western side of the island. Additional measures include economic and environmental initiatives such as a commercial ferry terminal, artificial reef development, job training, and a public health study. The segment concludes by calling for cooperation from the people of Vieques to implement the plan during the transition period.
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- 2026-01-28T17:38:32.506Z
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- Introduction and Plan
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- 381
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- 2026-01-28T17:36:09.212Z
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- By the first day of March in 2002, Vieques will hold a vote. In that vote, you will be presented with one of two alternatives. If you choose one alternative, the Navy will cease all training on Vieques by May 1, 2003. If you choose the other, training will continue on Vieques, including.
~~The people of Vieques will have the idea that the island will be imposed on the other 13
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Additionally, $50 million will be provided to for infrastructure and housing in the land the Navy will transfer to local ownership on the western side of the island.
live fire training, on terms proposed by the United States Navy. It has not been determined yet what day this vote will occur – but when it is, the people of Vieques will have at least three months to debate the question before voting.
In the meantime, we are taking several other steps.
First, Navy training on Vieques will resume in March.
Second, I am ordering that the training done on Vieques in the period leading up to the vote will be limited to only inert ordnance – no live fire and to 90 days a year – half of the 1998 goal.
Third, while the Navy and Marine Corps will resume training on Vieques, I have cut in half the amount of time they will spend training. Two years ago, our troops trained for 182 days on Vieques. This year, they will be authorized for 90 days, which is what we need to meet our essential training needs.
Fourth, to meet past wrongs, we will address the economic, health, safety, and environmental concerns that we should have been addressing all along. Measures we will implement include, among other things, development of a new commercial ferry pier and terminal, an artificial reef to create new commercial fishing areas, temporary compensation for fisherman, expanding and improving roads, a bioluminescent bay preservation program, a job training program for young people, providing land to extend the airport runway, and a Public Health Service Study. To ensure these measures are taken – and that the missed opportunities of our 1983 agreement are not repeated – I will ask the Pentagon to establish a working group that will work with Vieques on all questions relating to the use of the range and coordination of these issues.
Fifth, I will also ask Congress to begin transferring title to land on the western quarter of the island to Puerto Rico.
This plan will help resolve the impasse over Vieques. While it will ultimately meet Puerto Rico's needs – whatever the will of the people eventually decide -- I recognize it will not do so as immediately as some in the islands might have wished. But I believe this is a fair solution that will provide the training necessary to ensure satisfactory Navy and Marine Corps combat readiness while also ensuring the safety and well-being of the people of Vieques.
To make this solution work, I need your help. I hope I can count on the people of Vieques to participate when the vote occurs. I also hope I can count on your cooperation to implement the measure I have outlined to allow the training of our troops to continue in a responsible and much more limited manner during this period while addressing the long-time concerns of the residents of La Isla Nena (la EES-la NEN-ya).
- title
- Introduction and Plan