~ CHAPTER10 THE ENEWETAK REHABILITATION PROGRAM 1972 - 1980 ~ BASIC CONCEPTS: 1972 - 1973 The 1972 decision to return Enewetak Atoll to the dri-Enewetak required that the islands be made habitable as weil as safe for future use by the people. At the same time that the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) was tasked to maketheislands safe, the Departmentof the Interior (DOI) was assigned the responsibility of making them habitable by constructing village communities and by planting commercial and subsistence crops.! Basic concepts for the Enewetak Cleanup Project and the Enewetak Rehabilitation Program were developed concurrently. Mr. John DeYoung and Mr. Harry Brown, of DOI’s Office of Territorial Affairs, worked closely with Headquarters, DNA in coordinating the initial planning and funding efforts at the Washington level. Responsibility for detailed planning and accomplishmentof the Rehabilitation Program was delegated by DOIto the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPD which, in turn, assigned the responsibility to its District Administratorfor the Marshal) Islands (DISTADMI), Mr. Oscar DeBrum. On 2-3 May 1973, Mr. DeBrum hosted a conference at Majuro, M.I,, o1 ~ ; dri-Enewetak and U.S. Government agency representatives to discus: basic concepts for the rehabilitation and resettlement of Enewetak Atoll. I was agreed that TTPI would develop a Master Plan for the program basec on the anticipated results of the cleanup project and on the desires of the dri-Enewetak.2 On 13 June 1973, TTPI engaged Holmes & Narver, Inc (H&N), which had accomplished the Enewetak Atoll engineering surve: for DNA, to prepare the Master Plan under the direction of the Marshal Islands District Planner, Mr. Dennis P. McBreen.3 H&N assigned Mr Charles P. Nelson to serve as its Program Manager, underthe direction o Mr. Earl P. Gilmore, Executive Vice President. Mr. Carlton Hawpe, Majuro architect who knew the Marshallese language and people, provide: architectural and consultant services under subcontract to H&N. In July 1973, Mr. Hawpe, accompanied by other agency representative: met with the dri-Enewetak on Ujelang Atoll to develop the basic concep! for the future Enewetak Atoll communities. To facilitate orderly plannin ~ of both the cleanupproject and the rehabilitation program, it was propose at the Majuro conference that the people elect a Planning Council. Th : proposal was not supported by manyof the dri-Enewetak whofearedthat Planning Council would usurp some of the powers of the Municip Council.