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IN

James L. Liverman

August 12, 1977

opinion regarding their position re the clean-up.
(You may recall
that they signed off on the EIS with the caveat "until such time
as EPA provides Federal guidance," or words to that effect.)
Consistently EPA has told DNA and ERDA that Enewetak probably

won't be affected by their guidance; nothing is in writing, however.

At the moment it is not clear what, if anything, will happen to
the TRU guidance, and, despize my request, I do not expect any

enlightenment from EPA prior to the meeting next week.

They do

continus to state, however, chat the current Enewetak criteria
are not unreasonable.

The second objective may be more difficult, if indeed it is even
possible.

No one in ERPDA knows the details of the military plans

for disposal (hence the. briefing on Monday), and there has never

been an assessment made of the potential health and environmental
consequences of such disposal.
Ina letter from vou to Gen. Johnson
dated April 10, 1975, it was stated that we assumed that EPA had

done this since they opposed ocean dumping and advocated crater
disposal, but we.are not aware of any such assessment. It is

unrealistic to expect this review group to make such an assessment
in a few days time. However, [ expect they will be able to offer
an opinion as to the adequacy of the disposal plans, or, perhaps,

a statement as to why it is not possible to assess their acequacy.

I feel that we have some of the best people in the country to conduct

this review, and, despite the short notice, time constraints, and a
large quantity of material to digest, I expect they will provide you
with appropriate guidance.

on
Bruce W. Wachholz, Ph.0.
Office of Environmental

Policy Analysis

Attachment:

As stated
cc:

Or. Burr

Mr. Deal
Dr. Coleman

Dr. Cowser

Mr. McCraw

Dr. Watters
Dr.

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Weyzen- Oe

Mr. Hollister
Mr. Facer

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