detonations of 1,000-pound charges designed to establish cratering efficiency curves for low-yield detonations, provide ground motion calibration data, verify planned data acquisition techniques, evaluate operational procedures, and to verify the predicted impacts of the detonations on the environment. Twelve of the anticipated fifteen tests were actually conducted. Micro Atoll was planned to also include detonations up to 100 tons but these were not conducted. The Coral Sands and Mine Throw II tests were deleted before the program was approved later in a court order. The Air Force conducted investigations, including radiological reconnaissance of several islands as part of the PACE site selection phase, and finally decided to use Sally for the Micro Atoll segment of PACE 2. The program plan required that the ground surface be carefully prepared in order to measure and evaluate the crater and ejecta field under controlled conditions. Site selection on Sally and Yvonne, beginning in September 1971, consisted of exploratory drilling of approximately 30 holes, seismic profiling, and material properties testing. Work on PACE 2 continued in January of 1972 with preparation of the Sally test bed where large earth scrapers were used to remove vegetation and about 6 feet of overburden from a roughly triangular area of about 19 acres on the lagoon side of the island. Approximately 185,000 cubie yards of soil were moved—-90,000 of it was used to fill a saltwater pond along the west tip of the island; the rest was dumped onto a 10-acre site in the center of the island, raising the elevation by about 6 feet. By May 1972, completed activities related to PACE 1 included drilling about 190 holes into various islands of the atoll. Thirty-five holes drilled by the rotary method were cased, 15 of these with 4-inch plastic pipe and 20 with 2-inch plastic pipe. The holes were predominantly less than 200 feet deep, with one hole extending to about 305 feet. In addition, 86 trenches had been cut into various islands with backhoe equipment. The average dimensions of the trenches were 3 feet wide by 6 feet long by 7 feet deep. The purpose of the trenches was to investigate and sample the soil profiles of the islands down to the water table and to sample the water itself. All soil was piled next to the trenches during the studies and later replaced. Completed activities related to PACE 2 affected, in summary, a total of 34 acres on Sally. Nineteen acres had been lowered in elevation by about 6 feet, 10 acres had been raised by an elevation of about 6 feet, and a 5-acre saltwater pond had been filled in. In addition, about 30 exploratory holes had been drilled on Sally and Yvonne. Announced Release of Enewetak. On 18 April 1972, Edward E. Johnston, High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and Ambassador Franklin Haydn Williams, the President's Personal Representative for Micronesian Status Negotiations, made the following joint announcement concerning the United States Government's land requirements in the Trust Territory: "The future land needs of the Department of Defense were set forth during the third round of status negotiations which took place at Hana, Maui in October 197]. There Ambassador Williams stated that in regard to our security related land requirements in the Marshalls the need for research and development activities at Kwajalein would not disappear in the foreseeable future. He, however, qualified this remark with the following statement: ‘It may some day become possible to consolidate our testing activities in the Pacifie and concurrently reduce our land interests in the Marshalls.' "The United States Government appreciates the importance that Micronesians place on land and has no desire to retain Micronesian land that it does not need. Whenever it can consolidate or eliminate activities in order to reduce or terminate the lands required for security purposes, it will do so. "In this respect, the status of Enewetak Atoll has been under study by the various departments and agencies in the United States Government ever since the possibility of returning Bikini Atoll was first considered. Over the years the Department of Defense has been striving to bring its work on Enewetak to a close. Ambassador Williams and 1] have taken a personal interest in this matter and this afternoon we are extremely pleased to announce that the United States Government has in facet been able to structure its research plans and programs in such a way as to permit an early return of the atoll to the peopie of Enewetak. 17