Base closure talks heated up yesterday as the Bermuda Government laid down a position sharply at odds with that of the United States.

At a meeting at the Cabinet Building, Bermuda called for major environmental clean-up and completely rejected a $140-million price tag the Americans have placed on assets at the US Naval Air Station and US Naval Annex.

"The US Government is obligated to remediate environmental damage at the Bases to the same standards that are in effect in the United States,'' Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons said in a news release.

"The US Navy's current position, that they will eliminate only those `known imminent and substantial dangers to human health and safety,' is not sufficient.'' Further, "there is no basis in existing treaties or law for the United States Government's claim that they are entitled to be compensated for the value of fixed assets, such as buildings, which have been constructed on the Bases during US tenancy.'' In fact, "the United States Government has a responsibility for the cost of upgrading certain structures and facilities necessary to the operation of the Airport, to maintain full compliance with international standards,'' Dr.

Gibbons said.

Bermuda and US differ over Base lands And the 1941 agreement between the US and UK that created the Bases "should be terminated entirely and the land returned to Bermuda'', when the Navy leaves in September of 1995.

The US has said the 99-year lease should continue, with the amount of land it covers sharply reduced to mainly take in only the NASA site at Cooper's Island.

Dr. Gibbons rejected the charge of a senior US official, quoted in Tuesday's The Royal Gazette , that the Bermuda Government was seeking to "politicise'' the Base talks.

"In fact, on the environmental front, the Bermuda Government has taken great pains to keep the US Navy informed of the results of ongoing environmental assessment,'' Dr. Gibbons said.

Government had "painstakingly avoided public comment on our detailed findings and avoided political posturing completely,'' he said.

Capt. Tim Bryan, the NAS Bermuda Commanding Officer who heads the American negotiating team, said the environmental assessment his team was presented was "pretty much in keeping with what we anticipated.

"We are now studying the information provided to us.'' Capt. Bryan said Bermuda was "asking for a lot, it seems at first blush''.

"If they ask the US Government to do things of an environmental nature that exceed my ability and involve fiscal resources that are well beyond the well-established policy of the Department of Defence, I would have to re-evaluate what is being requested and whether I would be able to continue along our plan of action that we have established for closure,'' he said.

This was particularly true if Government was taking the position that it owed nothing for Base improvements, he said.

Capt. Bryan said Bermuda's position would be "communicated back to the Defence Department''.