from Governor Scott Matheson of Utah, the Department of Energy undertook to declassify and release all information on the effects of fallout. Establishing the Offsite Radiation Exposure Review Project, the department collected all relevant records and data relating to atmospheric testing and fallout, deposited them in a Coordination and Information Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and used the data to reassess radiation “doses to the local residents. A year later the department established a Dose Assessment Advisory Group to provide advice and general direction to the Offsite Radiation Exposure Review Project..°° Dr. Joseph Lyon, an epidemiologist who published a controversial study of the radiation effects of fallout in 1979, found that the child- hood leukemia rate for children in southern and eastern Utah tripled for the years 1959 to 1967. possible link between Lyon believed that his data established a testing and childhood leukemia. Although scientists questioned his methodology, the government intensified its investigations of the health effects of fallout. News of Lyons' study, and of the alleged injuries to former soldiers, however, had sparked a wave of claims against the government requesting damages for illness caused by fallout radiation. litigation cases billion, © federal 1980. alleged damages totaling over $2 the United States in ° Ronald Reagan was November with elected President of Although the government's role in new President promised energy requiation and to reduce management, the he y radiation By mid 1982 the department faced over 53