DikKiniexes.sue U.0. tOreturn
By GERALD KATO.

Advertiser Staff Writer .

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ts
The people of Bikini at

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as pa

bs

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>yr? er Miner bs:ah?

being used as a nuclear -«

testing ground, have filed woke
a massive lawsuit against “'

(SZ/TT/OT ~ NILHTIAG AUVLS ATAIONOH)

. ment Administration to

‘furnish technical assist-

4

*£ ance and facilities.
e Complete aerial radiological surveys of the
_. Bikini and other northern
. Marshall atolls to draw
conclusions on the risks
posed by radiation. This
‘41 would be part of the compliance with the National
_ Environmental Policy

Attorney George M.,

Allen of the Micronesian
Legal Services Corp, filed .
the lawsuit on behalf of a

the people of Bikini in

Federal Court hereyes-

terday.

@Contingencyreloca-

- tion of Bikini residents..
,, @Immediate medical
’
“examinations of all those
‘who now are living on the
"2 atoll, requiring the Eneri, BY Research and Develop-

atoll, exiled for 30 years.
while their homeland was-

the U.S. Government to
secure what they hope
will be their final. return
home.

possible risks involved. -

'

The suit is asking the

_ Act.

court to issue an order for
immediate
medical

' THE SUIT alleges’‘that

«the people of ‘Bikini have

examination of the 75 per- |
sons who havereturned to
the atoll, risking exposure
to radiation. It also seeks .
a complete radiological
survey of the atoll to. “y
determine the risks involved to others who may x. "ey ag

7

lost,.faith in the Atomic
yy-Energy Commission and
’

.;.its successor, the Energy

Research and Develop-

‘tment

Administration,

’ s.which were designated to

%... carry out the radiological
tests. The suit says they

return.
THE PEOPLEof Bikini

were removed after World .’.. s

, never followed through
* ‘with the tests.

srt

War IJ, whenthe United ad
States decided to use the "-

Pechite ye a

425-acre atoll for an atom: °:,

oe adh Hetala

The suit is asking that a
“panel of scientific person-

edie

,

s

ys; nel be appointed.to ana-.

lyze the data from radioadvertiser photo by Charles Okamyra
ic testing ground.- About ,Jf givee
8
.
TARRYWY OH,
logical tests of the island.
23 nuclear tests were con- (eft) and his fellow.Bikintislandershave turned to the courts to expedite their return home.
The court should take
ducted there between 1946Miseies
*mS)- Balos
re
Yat ‘ eer
ry
.
:
\te,
‘ ‘ attea
toe,
control over agency
and 1958,
0 oe 4. Ghee
During - that:‘time, ‘the:vee ‘Administration;;
istande® “and President’ ‘said his people’ are anx- thing: to’ keep. (theirt spending and monitor the
, eventual resettlement of
. Ford,
people were moved from
jous to return to their.. promises. »-- +... +
d
“We've. been patiently. :" the people,the suit says.
one atoll to another in the “~~”
homeland but they want In effect, the sute al- to be sure that it’s safe to
Marshall Islands. There .
waiting up to now and it
37 COLLAPSEof the
are now about 860 persons Saab
.
and Development :“-leges that the U.S. Gov- return.
seems
like
nobody
cares,
pilin
resettlement repre-.
in the Bikini population, ’ Administration; James R. ernment has not kept its
“All these 30 years we- so, as a result, we thought cants a classic case of bumost of whom live in Kill. . Schlesinger, secretary of promise to return the peo- . were expecting that we _ by taking action we would » reaucratic dysfunction,”
A return to Bikini had
defense; and Kent Friz- ple of ‘Bikini to their”. would be treated better ~ be treated better. than the suit said.
been scheduled in Septem-.
- a
zell, acting secretary of homeland, It seeks court and yet nothing has been . that”
‘*Money is still being
action to movethe reset- © done,” he said, ., ber but the Interior Dethe interior.
. spent; meetings are still
AMONG
THE
things
tlement
program
along,
partment announced that
Also, Fred'M. Zeder,
with the necessary radio-' * “We were promised by, _ being sought. in the suit © being held; bureaucrats
the atoll was still unsafe.

tor, U.S. Energy Research and Development

are:

_ continue to fly all over the
@A bar against ‘anyone ‘northern hemisphere on
.. Territories Government . going to the ‘atoll unless government expense ac_ atoll is safe to live gn.:
.* that they would provide: . that person is informed, - ‘counts, but nothing is
‘Oscar: Debrum, district
us everything we needed. : .in the Marshallese lan- | being done about the peoadministrator, Marshall in the suit, Henchi Balos, , They haven't done any-' guage if Kecessary, of the | ple of Bikini.’’

” director, Office of TerritoTHE LAWSUIT names" Fries; Edward E. Johnas defendants Robert C. .ston, high commissioner
Seamans Jr., administra- ‘of the Trust Territories;

logical and environmental
surveys to insure that the

ONE OF THE plaintiffs.
we

the United States Govern-ment as well as the Trust.

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