LAW OFFICES GINSBURG, FELDMAN, WEIL AND BRESS DAVID GINSBURG MYER FELOMAN JW. ROSENTHAL FRANK A WEIL * E WILLIAM HENRY LEE R. MARKS JOHN H. ZENTAY MARTIN JACOBS JAMES E. WESNER FREO W. DROGULA MICHAEL |. SANDERS, P.C. JOEL S BURTON JAMES HAMILTON ALFRED J. EICHENLAUB RICHARD P. SILLS, P.C. PETER H. RODGERS ALAN 5. WEITZ 1700 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N. W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 CABLE: “LEGIS’ TELEX 89-2422 TELEPHONE (202) 637-9000 OAVID G. BRESS (1908-1976) October 16, ®ADMITTED IN NEW YORK ONLY 1980 ANDREA JILL GRANT JACOB DWECK MARTHA JANE SHAY BRUCE H. RABINOVITZ ROBERT W. HAWKINS JOSEPH E. RESENDE DAVIO J. FREEMAN CELIA ROADY GARY J. KLEIN PHILIP M. BATTLES, OT LAWRENCE P, KELLER SCOTT W. STUCKY PATRICIA N. BLAIR GAYLE FORST RICHARD A, COHN G, STEPHEN SAUNDERS ALAN R. YUSPEH SUSAN A. CO86& IRA T. KASDAN JONATHAN M. WEISGALL JUDITH ANN JACOBSON PETER A. CASCIATO SUSAN BANES HARRIS EDWARD J. TOLCHIN WRITER'S DIRECT OAL NUMBER (202) 637-9104 Mr. Hal L. Hollister Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research Office of Assistant Secretary for Environment U.S. Department of Energy EV-3 Forrestal Building Washington, D.C. 20585 Dear Mr. Hollister: AS you may recall from the dose assessment meeting on Kili last week, Senator Henchi Balos, the Bikinians' elected representative to the Marshall Island Nitijela, asked DOE scientists why they now believe that people can live on Eneu Island in light of the fact that government officials just two years ago stated that Eneu Island would have to remain offlimits for 20-25 years, due to unexpectedly high levels of radiation on the island. You and Dr. Wachholz replied that DOE had no knowledge of such statements. Senator Balos was referring to testimony on May 22 and June 19, 1978 before the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on the Interior. At the May 22 hearing, for example, Ruth Van Cleve, Director of the Office of Territorial Affairs, Stated that her expectation that the Bikinians could be moved to Eneu had been changed by recently-released DOE data declaring Eneu off-limits: "I must tell you ... that we have suddenly been required to recast our preliminary plans in a very major way. The committee will recall that when we testified before you a month ago, we anticipated, on the basis of the best inforMation then available to us from the Department of Energy, that if it were necessary to move the peovle of Bikini Island to an alternative,