An American Air Force veteran is calling for his own government to clean up the mess it left behind at Bermuda's baselands.

Andrew Moore — who has just made a trip from Texas to Bermuda — says he was shocked to find Kindley Air Force Base in the same condition as when he served here in 1963-64.

Mr. Moore, 64, was on the Island to gather information as he builds his case for compensation for his ill health which he attributes to his job dumping waste in a deep pit.

The clean-up of waste such as mercury, paint, batteries and vast amounts of oil at Kindley and Morgan's Point is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars, but the US previously only agreed to pay $11 million for the replacement of Longbird Bridge.

But Congressman Charles Rangel, the New York Democrat who heads the House of Representatives Committee of Ways and Means, told Premier Ewart Brown on his recent Washington trip that he was keen for negotiations to reopen.

Speaking from Texas, Mr. Moore told The Royal Gazette about his visit: "It was amazing to me. The base at Kindley looks the same. The land has not been developed.

"That's one of the things that bothers me a little bit. The size of the Island — and there's all that space in that area and it's wasteland. You have got two major areas not being developed. It could mean revenue to Bermuda."

Asked who should pay for the clean-up, he said: "We were there, we left it. It's like a house. If a tenant leaves it in a bad condition he has the responsibility to put it right."

Mr. Moore has been diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, had a third of his stomach surgically removed and a history of lung problems including pneumonia.

He flew to Bermuda late last month after reading of former serviceman Ronald Slater's claims that he knew of numerous barrels of lethal defoliant being dumped and burned in a Kindley pit from 1965 to 1967.

During his trip he met with Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Robert Horton to seek information about talks between the US and Bermuda.

He also met with United Bermuda Party MP Grant Gibbons, who was Management and Technology Minister when toxicology tests were carried out on the land in the mid 1990s.

Mr. Moore said: "They gave me all the time I needed. The Bermuda Government was more concerned with: 'How are you doing?' rather than: 'No you weren't there.'

"They were more caring than the evasiveness I have got from my own government. They said they admired my fortitude. That means something to me."

However, Mr. Moore remains pessimistic about his compensation battle, saying that if he was to succeed it could open a Pandora's Box, with more veterans coming forward.

Mr. Moore also served in Texas during his four year military career. He says the only time he handled waste was when he was in Bermuda.

Following Mr. Slater's allegations last summer, then Works Minister Dennis Lister commissioned a report into the safety of the land at Kindley.

Mr. Lister said on the report's completion: "Results do not suggest the presence of dioxin or Agent Orange to be a health risk."

However, months later, when Government finally released the report, the methods described to test the land raised questions.

Although veterans say they poured waste into deep pits, the method used by A.L.S. Laboratory was to collect samples from the top ten centimetres of the surface with a garden spade.

Mr. Slater and Mr. Moore say they would have needed to dig much deeper to carry out a proper test.