During the summer the Danish clean-up of abandoned American military bases in Greenland continues, costing the state treasury a total of DKK 180 million.
No end date has been set for the clean-up of 17 specific locations, but even before the last rusty oil barrel has been removed, new environmental bombs threaten to detonate in 10, 20 or 30 years.
During the summer the Danish clean-up of abandoned American military bases in Greenland continues, costing the state treasury a total of DKK 180 million.
No end date has been set for the clean-up of 17 specific locations, but even before the last rusty oil barrel has been removed, new environmental bombs threaten to detonate in 10, 20 or 30 years.
According to the Defense Agreement of 1951, the USA is exempt from any responsibility for environmental clean-up at its abandoned bases in Greenland. The agreement has had several additions, most recently in Igaliku in 2004 at a time when the US military was only present at Thule Air Base, today Pituffik Space Base. A supplementary agreement on the environment was essentially about Pituffik, and the environmental responsibility for cleaning up the Americans’ former and future bases elsewhere in Greenland was not mentioned with a single word.
Now it is rumored that the USA is planning to establish three new bases in Greenland, and at least Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq have been specifically mentioned. We therefore risk, with the current defense agreement from 1951, that in 10, 20 or 30 years, new environmental pollution will arise, which Denmark or an independent Greenland will have to pay for.
Hope for the best, fear the worst
The defense agreement from 1951 means that the United States, through joint membership of the defense alliance NATO, must assist Denmark in the defense of Greenland. In return, the Americans have the right to free access everywhere in Greenland.
The 75-year-old but still valid defense agreement constitutes a decisive document in the negotiations in the working group, which Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and naalakkersuisoq for foreign affairs Vivian Motzfeldt agreed with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance at a highly dramatic meeting on January 14 in Washington.
Very little gets out about the meetings in this one high level working groupwhere Greenland and Denmark hope for the best, but fear the worst.
The hope is a continuation of the existing defense agreement from 1951, which effectively gives the USA permission to establish all the bases in Greenland that the Americans want. The fear is a crossing of the red line, where the USA demands American sovereignty and sovereignty over the base areas in Greenland.
Claims create counterclaims
– We don’t really need anything other than the 1951 agreement, and the Danish and Greenlandic purpose of the negotiations in Washington is to have the current conflict with the Americans put back in the 75-year-old agreement, says senior researcher Ulrik Pram Gad from the Danish Institute for International Studies to Sermitsiaq.
– Should Denmark and Greenland in the working group make demands for American clean-up of the future bases when they are abandoned again in due course?
– If the negotiations end with an arrangement to the benefit of Greenland, then we risk opening up another arrangement in return for the USA, which the Americans want and which we do not want. I can understand if Denmark and Greenland do not have the greatest desire to promote a reopening of the 1951 agreement. If it still ends up with a supplementary agreement to the benefit of the Americans, then it could also be a place where the USA can be allowed to give a return, for example to take responsibility for clean-up.
Ulrik Pram Gad points out that the defense agreement from 1951 was concluded at a time when there was not at all the same focus on the environment as today.
– You will probably think a little better if you have to start over, even if you are American, says Ulrik Pram Gad.
The environment has full support
Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus and Naalakkersuisoq for Foreign Affairs Múte B. Egede met on Monday in Nuuk, where the afternoon ended with a joint press conference.
– Will Greenland and Denmark take the initiative to change the defense agreement of 1951, so that the bill for future environmental clean-up on American bases is paid by the polluter, by the USA?
– The complex of agreements from 1951 has had several additions over the years, and Naalakkersuisut and the Danish government find it very important to note that the Igaliku agreement from 2004 contains a sub-agreement specifically on the environment. In such a difficult time as we live in now, we continue to take as a starting point the obligations towards the environment in the text of the agreement, also with regard to preparations for future activities, says Múte B. Egede to Sermitsiaq.
General Gregory M. Guillot, head of the US Northern Command (Northcom), said in March during a hearing in the Senate that the US is negotiating with Denmark and Greenland on the establishment of three new bases in Greenland – allegedly in Narsarsuaq, Kangerlussuaq and Pituffik.
– There is talk of three bases, but nothing has been decided how and where. Right now we have set up a working group that discusses some complex aspects of defense and security policy that we must take care of and protect. Let’s see how we solve them in the future, says Múte B. Egede.
– Is a review of the US exemption from any environmental liability on past and future abandoned bases included as part of the negotiations in the working group?
– We do not negotiate through the press. We are following the diplomatic trail, says a succinct Múte B. Egede.
Defense Minister Jeppe Bruus also does not want to talk about the negotiations in Washington.
– There is a close collaboration between the government, Naalakkersuisut and the Americans in the working group, which discusses questions about the arrangement of the defense agreement of 1951. It is a collaboration that runs on a diplomatic track. When at some point we have finished the concrete negotiations, we will return to the issue, says Jeppe Bruus to Sermitsiaq.
The Minister of Defense emphasizes the Danish/Greenlandic emphasis on environmental protection.
– Greenland has a magnificent nature; Greenlanders are a people shaped by nature. I have just come from a job as minister for the Green Party responsible for the largest nature agreement in Danish history. I carry this responsibility for the environment into my new job as Minister of Defence, says Jeppe Bruus.
