4O L546 United States Department of the Interior OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240 Honorable Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Speaker House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Mr. Speaker: There is enclosed a proposed bill "To authorize the appropriation of funds for the rehabilitation and resettlement of Bikini Atoll, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and for other purposes.". Bikini Atoll lies among the Marshall Islands, which are a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands administered bv the United States pursuant to an agreement with the Security Council of the United Nations. The United States carried on atcmic testing there Letween 1948 and 1558 which severely damaged Bikini Atoll and rendered much of it uninhabitable. The United States had ccnmitted itself to returning the atoll to its original owners when security purposes no longer recniired its use for testing or defense purposes, and from 1958 onward the people of Bikini increasingly pressed for a return. Between 1966 and 1967, the former Atomic Energy Commissicn conducted several radiolegical surveys, and reported that after cleanup, a certain nurber of the islands of the atoll were safe for civilian habitation. Accordingly, cn August 12, 1968, President Johnson announced that Bikini Atoll was no longer required for the nuclear testing pregram or for defense purposes, and that the atoll would be returned to the people of Bikini following cleanup and rehabilitation. In his announcement, the President stressed that a modern and model comunity would be provided for the returning residents. In June 1975 an intensive ground radiological survey was corducted by ERDA and it revealed that the-original recommendations concerning resettlement on Bikini Island needed drastic revision. It became evident that radionuclide intake in the plant food chain had been grossly miscalculated in terms of human consumption. The results of BEST COPY AVAILABLE ——.