A top-level US Navy delegation has washed its hands of responsibility for cleaning up pollution at the old bases in Bermuda, The Royal Gazette can reveal. But the Bermuda Government is set to torpedo the US survey with a sharp attack on the findings.

And Government is to enlist the help of US legislators in a bid to sink the US Navy's bid to sail off into the sunset without a major clean-up.

According to the report, the US Navy is not only sticking to its guns on refusing responsibility for the bases, but their experts trashed environmental reports prepared for Bermuda by outside consultants.

And they insisted environmental problems -- including oil pollution and tons of deadly asbestos -- were either minimal or manageable.

The rejection comes despite the report admitting that contamination took place during the nearly 50 years of US military presence on the Island -- and that the US Navy here failed to follow tough environmental standards adopted in 1994.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said: "They also conceded their 1994 evaluation uncovered serious problems with waste disposal, underground storage tanks and major deficiencies in asbestos disposal, hazardous waste and waste water programmes.'' But the report insisted pollution left behind was manageable by "relatively simple measures or by imposing reasonable restrictions on land use.'' Finance Minister Grant Gibbons confirmed yesterday that Government had received a copy of the 150-page report, prepared by a team of experts from the US Navy for US lawmakers.

He said: "The report....in fact I would call a classic hatchet job of the results of some of the work the Bermudian consultants have done.'' And Dr. Gibbons added: "They said our desire to see the bases cleaned up were driven not by environmental risk, but by our redevelopment goals.

He said: "What they are saying is `it's not a hazard if you cordon it off, build a fence round it. Clearly, that doesn't help us when we are trying to get on with redevelopment, whether it be tourism, community use or housing.'' Five US technical experts spent three days in Bermuda in December last year after pressure from Bermuda in high-level talks in the US and intense lobbying of US politicians.

Dr. Gibbons said there were five basic arguments in the special report -- starting with the US Navy's insistence that clean-ups were the responsibility of the States' former hosts.

The report also argued that the 1941 agreement which handed over ten percent of Bermuda as part of a `bases for battleships' agreement between then-embattled Britain and the US left no obligation to repair environmental damage.

And the US experts said the US Defence Department's overseas clean-up responsibility was limited to only "known, imminent and substantial hazards'' -- which they claimed did not cover Bermuda's case.

The US team added that US environmental legislation did not apply outside the country and that there is no international body which has the power to order the US to come clean on its responsibility.

US Navy denies pollution responsibilty for baselands But Dr. Gibbons said: "They have conceded there was environmental contamination as a consequence of the US military presence in Bermuda and, in a number of cases, they did not follow the normal environmental compliance procedures.

"Some of their arguments we disagree with, like that the risk can only be regarded as `imminent' if the danger is present today.

"But many of these areas are closed to the public at the present time.'' Dr. Gibbons added the US also pointed out their estimate of $140 million in improvements left behind when they quit the Island in 1995.

But he said: "We have absolutely contested that -- a lot of this value is specific military buildings which are of no value and, in many cases, need to be demolished.'' Dr. Gibbons added: "We are not pleased with this -- but we fully expected it.

This is an exercise by the Navy to try and restate the position that they had no obligation to do anything further in Bermuda.

"We have not given up hope. Far from it. What we need to do is move forward again and make the case that Bermuda is a special situation.

"There are a lot of people in Congress who feel sympathetic towards Bermuda and feel the US should now do what is right.'' Tons of asbestos has been collected from the old US bases and is currently awaiting disposal. Oil pollution has been found at the former Naval Air Station in St. David's and in caves under the former US Naval Annex in Southampton, now called Morgan's Point and earmarked for a major tourism development.