ber 1978, a church-sponsored conference in Ponape, in the trust ter-
ritory, brought together representatives from around the Pacific to
discuss nuclear issues and to call for a nuclear-free Pacific. There is
little differentiation within the Pacific community between nuclear
weapons, nuclear wastes, and nuclear-powered vessels. Several Pacific
ports are closed to nuclear-powered vessels and the United States has
even had difliculty in scheduling port visits in New Zealand and
Australia, ANZUSallies in the Pacific. The situation in the Americanowned areas is compounded by the continuing unresolved situation of
the peoples of Bikini and Enewetak Atolls.
,
General statements of where the United States or other countries
‘are looking or not looking for nuclear waste storage sites are not
likely to allay-the very real concerns of the Pacific community. In
meetings with the Department of Energy and the Department of
State on this program, the committee questioned the continued need
for secrecy over the potential sites and the nature and Status of the
proposals,
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Despite the expressions of concern from the committee, the State
Department would only state formally that:.“The sites currently
underconsideration are undisputed U.S. territories, either uninhabited
or having no indigenous population, and do not involve any location
in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.” Whatever benefit that
statement might have is dissipated by the word “currently.” In addition, since there are uninhabited islands in the Northern Marianas,
Samoa, the Aleutians, and Hawali, the State Department response
did little to quiet the fears in the Pacific. Articles and editorials
began to appear, as anticipated, in Guam as well as Australia and
otherareas.
Although S. 1119 was drafted when the original Post article appeared, introduction was delayed as a, result of the briefings. From the
briefings by the Departments of State and Energy, together with the
materials submitted by the Department of nergy, it appeared that
the preliminary sites evaluation was virtually complete. The sites
under consideration, although obviously subject to the general concerns of the Pacific community over any nuclear storage proposal in
the Pacific, approve to avoid the majorprotests likely to accompany
proposals at other potential sites.
On May 3 the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and Inter-
national Environmental and Scientific Affairs wrote to Senator Jackson notifying him that additional investigations would be undertaken.
Thesites included in these investigations seemed to confirm someof the
site-specific concerns raised ‘by the committee. In addition, when asked
whether he was aware of the new investigations, the Under Secretary
of the Interior responded that he wasnot.
No Seii
grams in the Pacific are a fear of even the presence of nuclearpowered vessels, much less the storage of nuclear wastes on some
“inhabited” island, and a general distrust of the intentions of the
nuclear powers in the area. The French nucleartests at Mururoa and
Hao Atolls have resulted in continued angry reactions ‘both locally
and among representutives to the South Pacific Conference. In Octo-
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Among the legacies of the American and French nuclear test pro-
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