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The former Sondrestrom US Air Force Base is now a busy community of 500, a midsized town by Greenland standards.

Runways built for heavy bombers and transports now accommodate wide-颅bodied jetliners, which disgorge passengers connecting to Greenland鈥檚 many small airstrips. Tourists head out on musk ox safaris or join cruise ships at the base鈥檚 old supply dock, while locals enjoy Greenland鈥檚 only indoor swimming pool, originally built for US troops.

Greenland is dotted with former US military installations 鈥� and one active one 鈥� a reminder of its importance as a steppingstone in the fight against Nazi Germany and as a cold-war surveillance and missile-detection base.

Some facilities, like Sondrestrom, have become important economic assets to the 56,000 inhabitants of Greenland, a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. But environmental contamination at other former military sites has bred serious tensions among leaders of Greenland鈥檚 ethnic Inuit population, their old colonial masters in Denmark, and the Pentagon.

鈥淭he US and Denmark together have a lot to clean up,鈥� says Aleqa Hammond, foreign minister for Greenland鈥檚 home rule government. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not even halfway done. The East Coast and icecap areas have thousands of abandoned barrels, and the failure to clean up the [Thule] air base is something that is very heavy in our hearts.鈥�

Unsightly barrels and rubbish heaps mar the stunning landscapes near many former military sites, including former Distant Early Warning (DEW) stations the United States built to detect incoming Soviet nuclear missiles. Two DEW stations built atop the mile-thick ice cap that covers interior Greenland were abandoned on short notice, leaving everything from soldiers鈥� personal effects and paperwork to electrical equipment contaminated with PCBs.

The fjord near Thule Air Base has elevated radiation levels, the result of the 1968 crash of a B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs. Danish workers who helped clean up from the crash weren鈥檛 given protective equipment, and some claim medical problems as a result. One of the H-bombs was apparently never recovered, a fact that provoked anger here in 2000, when it became public.

But in recent years, the most contentious issue has been the US refusal to clean up dump sites and other contamination on the Dundas Peninsula, which was turned over to Greenlandic control in 2003, 50 years after being incorporated into the adjacent Thule Air Base, 950 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

It鈥檚 a particularly emotional issue for Greenlanders, as an entire village was forced from their Dundas homes in May 1953 to make way for Thule鈥檚 expansion. Given little notice and scant support, dozens suffered for three months in tents before homes for them were completed.

For decades, former villagers say, Danish authorities claimed the inhabitants had consented to the relocation and covered up the actual circumstances.

鈥淭hat land is rightfully theirs,鈥� says Aqqaluk Lynge of the Inuit Circumpolar Council and author of 鈥淭he Right of Return,鈥� a book about the relocation. 鈥淚t should be returned in the same condition as when they hunted there.鈥�

The US agreed to release the Dundas area 鈥� part of which had been a missile launch site 鈥� but not to clean it up first, a position that surprised Svend Auken, who was Denmark鈥檚 minister of environment during the negotiations. 鈥淭here was strong pressure on the Americans that they should clean up after themselves, but they wouldn鈥檛 budge,鈥� Mr. Auken says. 鈥淭hey said, 鈥業f you push us, we won鈥檛 give you an inch of it.鈥� 鈥�

He adds: 鈥淭hey said if they were to clean up after themselves at Thule, then they would be met by similar demands in the Philippines, Japan, and elsewhere in the world. They didn鈥檛 want to set that precedent.鈥�

Mikaela Engell, an official at the Danish Foreign Ministry, says the US position stands in stark contrast to that held when Sonderstrom and the DEW stations were returned. In 1991, the US agreed to remove the most serious environmental hazards, though barrels, rubbish, and other less dangerous materials were often left behind.

鈥淭here was a total reversion of the American position on the environment between 1991 and 2003,鈥� Ms. Engell says. 鈥淭here was a new administration and different political headwinds.鈥� Danish officials say it is not yet known what a cleanup will cost.

Under the Bush administration, the US position has been to adhere to a 1951 agreement with Denmark, which does not require environmental remediation. In a written statement to the Monitor, Cheryl Irwin, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of Defense, said the US had acted in accordance with this treaty, which 鈥渞eflected a shared burden with our host nation for our contribution for defense of the free world.鈥�

And while the US was not required to return the Greenland sites to their original condition, the US had 鈥済iven up any claims for residual value of improvements made while there,鈥� the statement continued. Furthermore, any contamination on the sites was 鈥渢he result of 鈥榥ormal鈥� practices in place at the time.鈥�

Ms. Irwin also said that Congress had 鈥渇orbidden us to remediate overseas sites returned to host nations when not required to by an international agreement.鈥�

Two DEW line stations on the Greenland ice cap are slowly sinking into the ice. Ken Reimer, an expert on DEW line remediation at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, says such stations are often contaminated with PCBs, heavy metals, and fuel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not as if somebody who goes to the site will be exposed to something,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hese chemicals aren鈥檛 an acute risk to environmental or human health, but they can cause chronic harm.鈥�

But those extremely remote stations will probably be left as is, due to the high cost of removing contaminants. 鈥淵ou would have to take them down entirely,鈥� says Engell of the Danish Foreign Ministry, 鈥淚t might be better to leave them standing as long as you can and concentrate on more critical sites.鈥�