Three U.S. firing ranges are among the U.S. bases and facilities that will be handed over to Panama at the end of 1999. Since World War I, U.S. and Panamanian forces have used much of the Piña, Balboa West and Empire facilities’ combined 37,822 acres for live-fire training and munitions testing.

Since not all munitions explode on impact, the training areas have accumulated decades of “duds,” or unexploded ordnance (UXO). The resulting safety concerns have made UXO perhaps the most controversial issue surrounding the base properties’ handover. Over the past few decades, unexploded munitions at the sites have claimed the lives of one U.S. soldier and at least twenty-four Panamanians – most of them trespassers – who triggered hidden explosives on the grounds of the ranges.

While the United States has made some effort to clear away unexploded munitions, the U.S. Southern Command estimates that UXO will remain on about 7,835 acres of the firing ranges, mostly at the Empire range, when they are handed over to Panama in December 1999. The Defense Department argues that it is impossible to clear these areas, which consist “primarily of steep hills and extremely dense jungle foliage,” without unacceptably risking the lives of cleanup personnel and doing serious environmental damage.¹

Concerns have also been raised about the legacy of chemical weapons testing at the bases. U.S. forces tested a large number of agents, including mustard gas, phosgene, sarin nerve gas and the Agent Orange herbicide, during the decades that the ranges were under U.S. control. 

Despite Panamanian protests, U.S. officials insist that cleanup efforts will cease when U.S. properties are handed over in 1999. Panamanians cite the 1977 Panama Canal treaties, which commit the United States to clear all hazards from its properties “insofar as may be practicable.”

Other sites:

• "National Religious and Environmental Leaders Urge Disclosure and Cleanup," by Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1999.
• "Test Tube Republic: Chemical Weapons Tests in Panama and U.S. Responsibility," by Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1998.
• "U.S. Accused of Leaving Mess," by ABC News, September 25, 1998.
• "U.S. leaving behind canal, hidden dangers," The St. Petersburg Times, January 30, 1999.
• "When US Hands Over Bases to Panama, It May Leave Environmental Mess Behind," The Christian Science Monitor, August 20, 1997.
• United States, Department of Defense, “U.S. Sponsored Unexploded Ordnance Seminars In Panama,” Press Release, November 10, 1998

Sources:

¹ United States, Department of Defense, “U.S. Sponsored Unexploded Ordnance Seminars In Panama,” Press Release, November 10, 1998 <http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov1998/b11101998_bt587-98.html>.