108
RADIOLOGICAL CLEANUP OF ENEWETAK ATOLL
project yet presented. The Committee’s questions were incisive and
exhaustive.
LTG Johnson’s opening statement provided a general description of the
project and of DNA’s efforts to minimize costs and obtain necessary
funding. He then presented a statement from the Honorable Samuel W.
Lewis, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, which
emphasized the awkward U.S. position caused by the Enewetak and Bikini
situations. They were of continuing concern in the Trusteeship Council
and Security Council of the United Nations. The use of the atolls for
nuclear testing had appeared to some as an abuseofour trusteeship in the
first place. Twenty years had passed and the United States still had not
been able to fulfill its obligation to return the people of Enewetak to their
atoll in safety. The United States, which had introduced the idea of
trusteeship to protect underdeveloped nations until they became selfsufficient, was under especially keen scrutiny since the TTPI was the only
one of eleven trust territories established by the United Nations which had
not achieved self-sufficiency. A timely appropriation of funds to resolve
the Enewetak matter was essential to successful termination of the Trust
in 1981 and to the best interests of the United States. 2!
LTG Johnson also presented a letter from Deputy Secretary of Defense
William D. Clements urging favorable action on the appropriation. Mr.
Clements believed it to be in the national interest, in order to avoid a host
of political and legal liabilities in the posttrusteeship period, to make the
dri-Enewetak less reliant on financial assistance and to promotea political
environment in the Marshall Islands which would support continued use
of the Kwajalein Missile Range by the United States. 2!!
Rear Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., of ASDUSA), presented a
statement supporting the project as a prerequisite to ending the
Trusteeship and avoiding political and legal liabilities in the posttrusteeship
period.2!2
.
Mr.Mitchell, the people’s legal counsel, then presented a lengthy
statement on their behalf. It chronicled their hardships during the war,
their exile to Ujelang Atoll, and the hardships they had suffered there,
—
wm
oe
eS
including crop failures, rats, and starvation. Enewetak was not United
States property. It belonged to the dri-Enewetak and had, Mr. Mitchell
stated, been taken from them without their consent. The use of Enewetak
for nuclear testine
had been of immense value to the United States, with
peacetime as well as wartime applications.
over $10.6 billion on nuclear testing at Enewetak Atol! between 1950 and
1959. The cost of restoring the atoll would be insignificant in comparison,
whether it was $20 million or $100 million. The real values to be
considered were the total cost of the nuclear test program, including
restoration of the atoll, and what that program had produced for the
Planning and Programming
109
United
Ama
re Stat
ate:
es in th ¢ way of
) , nucleai r we;apons5 and
i
security
|
ard Wo Tren ie
(
for
;
restoration would cost
per individual resettled
13
Ys, Johannes
Peter and Binton Abraha
m, confirmed the
interpreter. Donald Capelle.
commitnnn mittee egusse
d at length both the writ
ten agreements which
mitted
niled
slates to return the atoll and
the authoritiy
signatortes to make $such com
of
mitn lents. It was decii ded
that
soese hea
‘
provided that authority in Title 48,
USC, Section 168] 214 wongress
boon “madeto the aaoned
had
the amount of payments
which had already
5
oO thtne dri-Enewetak for u
s€ of f the atoll, especial
hee ene ex gratia paymen
t made In trust in 1976. Mr.
Mitchel explained
recognition re . paymen
t for use of the atoll, but
an
Outright gift in
reo
n OF the hard
7 ships the people had sulle
red at Ujelang. It w:
a ease payment or a pay
ment of damages, but
a gift, intended ty
these ele ene:
Since it was a trust fund, they
received only
St, abo
7 ut
per person per year, , or 43¢
er persc
ahead ral amount,
é
even for the Marshall Isla
nds ns on pen cay an
re © Pr
problem
m of subs
subsis
istence was dijIscussed
further, especi:
possibility of radioactivity
in the food. ERDA represen
tatives resented
a
ER
ra report on radi. olog .
wo
ical conditions at the atol
l and protection of
an nat as Was presen
ted.2!6 The committee was
advised that th
rent plan did not envision
soil r emoval fro
1
m
Enj
j
ebj
.2!
7
was not planned to be used for
3
i
residence. 218
wo
and the island
na
Jti € cleanup of Runit
also Tec
rece
ece
e ;lved | special
i attenti
ntion, LTG John
Ouinee eat? Ronit
el might have to be rem
oved from the Fig/
Quine
é
nit.
plutonium contaminaati
t; on on Runit
i a
rade saree would be
rem
oved and
encapsulated. The isla
nd would be
rome {° work on and to
visit.¢20 In the event funding lim
its prevented
Use canup of Runit,
the project would have to
be cancelled or the
he Ge oa ee 16retain
indefinite control over the
atol
l, i.e., continue
.
ne tranu
ntiac of KuRunit
ni . In res
es‘SIponse
‘
to ia CCongressii onal inqJuiry
ui on tl >
uir
pact of a fund limitation, LG
Johnson stated that it was
his view that.
before
th
removed. 221]
Me
,
alternatiy
OFreducing lotal
costs were discussed in detail, including:
€s for disposal of contaminated material;
the option to leave
g,