RESETTLEMENT OF PEOPLE JUNE Bikini: A Department of Energy tertainment provided by bars, TV, films and other activities is attractive; 4) many find work at Kwajalein exciting and it has the highest rate of pay a- (DOE) study based on 1975 data states: “All living patterns involving Bikini Island exceed Federal (radiation) guidelines for 30 year population doses." vailable in Micronesia. OCTOBER Bikini: U.S. scientists record an ll-fold increase in radioactive cesium 137 in the 130 people living on Bikini, who are taking in higher than "acceptable" concentrations of cancer causing radiation from the water and food growin in the island's still radioactive soil. . "...At Kwajalein 7 American trained and licensed physicians care for a population of approximately 3,000 residents. At Ebeye one Trust Territory physician and one volunteer physician care for a population estimated to be 7,000 to 8,000." Konrad Kotrady,M.D., U.S.House Territorial and Insular Affeirs Subcommittee Hearings, Majuro, July 14, 1976. Bikini: The DOE tells the people living on Bikini Island to eat only one coconut per day, rather than their normal 5 to 10, and begins sending in all food for consumption to Bikini. Bikini: Trust Territoy field trip ship service to Bikini is erratic. Food imports arrive late forcing people to eat the radioactive foods grown on Bikini. Kwajalein: Although the Ebeye Field Hospital is just three years old, its iron roof is deteriorated and leaking badly. During rainstorms the inside of the hospital is flooded with one to two inches of water. DECEMBER Kwajalein: Handel Dribo leads 40 landowners in an occupation of Ome- lek and two other small islands in the Mid-Corridor, protesting lack of compensation for their-use by the Army. Al-_ _ though these islands are in the Mid-Cor- ridor, they are not covered by the 1970 lease agreement. The Marshallese withdraw after U.S. officials promise a prompt settlement. 1978 JANUARY Kwajalein: A study by Dr. William Alexander, "Wage Labor, Urbani- zation and Cultural Change in the Mar- shall Islands" cites the reasons people 1 -re on Ebeye: 1} many families are supporting their children in high school or college with wages earned at Kwaja- lein; 2) while the hospital care is “appalling" by U.S. standards, it is better than on the outer islands; 3) the en- of the missile range can shop at all the stores with subsidized low prices on Kwajalein (average of 35-50% less than Ebeye prices), similar to a mili- tary post exchange, Marshallese KMR employees cannot. MARCH 1] Kwajalein: With negotiations at a standstill, Handel Dribo leads a reoccupation of Omelek. Lack of compensation, only limited access to his islands for food growing and overcrowding on Ebeye force Dribo'’s action. _ _“"Bikini_maybe the only global source of data on humans where intake via ingestion is thought to contribute the major fraction of plutonium body burden...It is possibly the best available source of data for evaluating the transfer of plutonium across the gut wall after being incorporated into biological systems.” Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Study on Bikini, 1977. APRIL 7 Kwajalein: The U.S,Ambassador to the Micronesian Status Negotiations, (continued on page 31) 29 GAA?hIL Kwajalein: The Alexander study notes that while American civilian employees 2 Oe nee ER Ne ee eee 1977 continued