Calls for a massive clean-up at Bermuda’s former Baselands were reignited yesterday as an investigation continues into claims lethal defoliant Agent Orange was dumped at Kindley Air Force Base in the 1960s.

A huge opportunity for development is being missed while the sites continue to be plagued by vast quantities of oil and other hazardous wastes, according to former Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons.

Bills of up to $65 million were estimated to remove materials including asbestos, jet fuel, paint, batteries, chemicals and oil left behind when Kindley AFB and Southampton Naval Annex — now known as Morgan’s Point — were handed back to Bermuda by the US in 1995.

The US paid an $11 million settlement a few years later, but large areas remain a no-go zone because of dangerous substances, including thousands of gallons of viscous oil and sludge at Bassett’s Cave, Morgan’s Point. Dr. Gibbons, involved at the bases as Management and Technology Minister in the 1990s, said he was “enormously frustrated” that no development had taken place at the sites.

Ten years ago, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course looked set to be built at the former Naval Annex, and Dr. Gibbons said its construction would have involved developers paying to remove waste materials.

However, it was one of a string of initiatives to fail to get off the ground.

“We have wasted ten years of the use of property which could be of enormous benefit for Bermuda,” said Dr. Gibbons yesterday.

“There was tremendous enthusiasm. You are looking at 250 acres of prime Bermuda property up at Morgan’s Point and 415 acres at Southside which could be used.

“Morgan’s Point could have been used very beneficially as a brand new tourism product. It could have brought career opportunities with the potential for small businesses there. The opportunity lost is quite extraordinary. It’s a tremendous disappointment.”

Last week, US Army veteran Ronald Slater claimed around 200 barrels of toxic waste — including Agent Orange, now said to cause horrific disfigurements and illness to those exposed to it — were dumped and burned at Kindley before he was instructed to bulldoze the remains into the sea at Annie’s Bay.

Since then The Royal Gazette has been contacted by a number of veterans about work carried out at the base.

Phil Spurlin, of Mississippi, a Staff Sergeant in charge of Aircraft Towing Operations for the 303rd Air Refuelling Squadron from 1960 to 1962, spoke yesterday about the disposal of waste oil.

“They had a wash rack where they washed the tankers,” said Mr. Spurlin. “The engines on these planes must have slung quite a bit of oil on the cowling and wings which would be washed off whenever they washed the plane. Because of the high corrosion caused by the salt spray from the ocean, these planes were washed much more often than those in the States.

“I’m just guessing, but all the grease, oil and hydraulic fluid washed off the plane probably went down a drain into the ocean.”

Mr. Slater believes his poor health, including Type Two diabetes, is a result of exposure to Agent Orange. He is awaiting a hearing before a veterans’ board and hopes to be awarded compensation, although the US says it does not recognise that the herbicide was used anywhere other than South East Asia.

Government is investigating the state of the land at Kindley amid fears that, if Agent Orange was dumped there, it could have caused permanent damage to the environment.

Works and Engineering says evidence from previous tests suggests the substance is not present. Results from a new probe specifically looking for Agent Orange are expected shortly.