BIKINI RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM I. RESETTLEMENT OPTIONS In light of the Interior Department's finding in 1978 that Bikini Island would not be safe for the foreseeable future, the people of Bikini have spent over a year exploring possible resettlement sites. Commissioner Winkel, Wake, four trips were conducted, one to fly over Palmyra, the Marshall Islands, With the help of High one to Hawaii, and one to various atolls in including Mili, Knox, Jaluit, Ailing- laplap, Erikub and Likiep. Only one of these potential relocation sites -Wake -- interested the Bikinians. Wake has very little rain- fall and virtually none of the life-sustaining trees or vegetation commonly found throughout the rest of the Marshall Islands, but it does pose one very attractive future for the Bikinians -- the American military. them from Bikini in 1946. home, The U.S. military removed The people have not yet found a so they anxiously look to the United States to continue to care for them. The Bikinians view Wake as a pocket of continuing U.S. presence in the region, so they immediately seized on it as a possible resettlement site. The Pentagon, however, has been adamant in its refusal to permit Wake to be used for resettlement. In sum, the Bikinians would be one to