Memo to Addressees, Subject: Summary of the Marshall Islands Committee Meeting 9/22/77 (Attachment)

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LLL Idorkshop, Review Committee, Transfer of C4arshall!slands programs OES to BER, Creation of co~:l~~.ii:tee to advise Al3 on Bob Catlin introduce-d -. Assistant Director for Special Projects, BEit. Relationship of committee to DOI <il question. Deal to assume rcsp0nsib.i1-i ty for coordinatiy cOi:;!:l~itixc activities 1. Bc aware of all Pacif-ic prc~~ranlactivities and will act as the po-int of coordination with-ill-the agency for all 2. k. responsibic for proqrm review .- program directors will he asked for brie?ings. Ad I;GC groups ~nsy be gefieratcd by the cornrniitee. 3. Advise AES on mtters jn the Pac'if!'c. Comnittee wi 1'1wet not less than once each G weks and more

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Those OII kt-i;aci>~d List 2 Burr summarized background of AEC/EP.DA problems :‘n Pacific: 1. Tool; land, displ2ced people, accepted job of return-ing people to an envirO~~t~;ent acceptable for hcal'il: and safety and w-ith an economic base. 2. In the process, environment ws altered appreciably and a) Medical followup needed to look for. radiation effects. (1) DOD responsible for cleanup; (3) ERDA to provide technical advice to DOD and (a) Provide cleanup criteria and recommendations; c) Long term radiological followp of people and there is impact of testing in the rest olr the Marshalls: (1) Conduct aerial screening survey, documentation of (2) DO1 obtained $2.6?1 for DOD logistics support of (3) Depending on findings - do or do not do more. (1) Garden on L::njebiIsland Encwtak Atoll; (2) Garden on Eneu Islanti I?ikini Atoll ; (3) Liverman suggested economic program on k!hat happens if coconuts not usable For copra. f) Part of ERDA role is to determine if advice is soured and that precautions work and is resettlement proper

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Reyzen asked, is the ERDA role str.ictly advisory to DOI? Answer - Strict interpretation is to advise, but ERDA must sometimes do more such as in the medical area. ERDA has responsibility to make sure our advice is understood. The people most affected must understand also (Deal). There must be feedback from people and we must fol'lowp on recommendations. question asked whether programs involving sociologists are needed. Agreement that exl,erts are needed in every area of endeavor but vie should do nothing tha-t ~oulcl appear to release TT from their responsibility for welfare of people in the Marshalls. The committee should be responsible .for developing policy for DOE and to coordinate closely with 001. k should take every opportunity to influence Trust Territory thinking. However, when we tal i:about sociologists and Ninkle, the new High Corn,,expects ccnt?nuing advice from ERDA in dynamic situations to help him make decisions. Although much time has been spent trying to inform DO1 and TT, many times they go ahead with their plans without us. Fifty more people want to go back to Gikini. The pressure to return is on Geerum from the people themselves. Fe don't expect to learn wch more about Bikini and Eneu Islsnds from the aerial survey but more will be learned about bther islands in the atoll for k!hich there is nobr little info. l-his aerial has been cited as something thax must be done before people As for urgency to move people from Bikini to Eneu Islands, there is no urgency if people are not relying on a Cikin-i Island diet. It should be relatively easy to provide food (Ray). There MS disagreement on this point. No fresh foods are being provided, only dry products. Men body burdens of 137Cs are again measured in Deccmher they will probably be as high or higher than in Nay and some people are already at or above the MPC right now (KcCraw). A shot-t term solution to the fresh food problem is needed. The High Corn should be informed o-f this. Regarding Pu in Bikini urine, \a!henGreenhouse, I?,N_,goes out <n October, five people will live on the LCU while urine is sampled to get better control of sample collection conditions. Concern was expressed for k/ha-l:impact this may have on the people and whether

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Those on Attached List 4 an understandable explanation can be given. P,ti ed:tcatiot? program is needed. Someone Srotn D3I/TT should go along otl these visits. Need for a bilingual person was si:atcd,‘possibly sotucone on the TT staff paid by ERDA. Nidu at B?\t.could help if he has a trans1 L7.-tOYI. There is need to reviw protocol for this work. There is a need to evaluate the problem of radionuclides in copra. Question on whether U. of Nashington could study this. BER b/ill see what can be done. The problem should be brought to DOI attention. The status of 13 Atoll survey was reviewed. There is a new Navy contact - have met with him three times trying to get the planning done that is needed to do the job. There must be a r~inintum number of ground samples collected to verify aerial data and SOW quantity of marine, terrestrial food and ground !:ratcr sampling is needed to calculate dose. After designing the aerial survey, will use what is ava-i Iable in time and rcso1irces to get the rest of the data. The problem is, OKB has said ERDA should eat its costs of 1.2[4 G? which one half is flying costs. Ene\tetak cleanup was cliscussec!. Question - tiow do we irlflucncc 'the DiJA approach to cleanup ~!hercin the cleanup commander will plc:ce the h-ighest priority for cleanup of Pu (in soil) OFT Runit Island? Cleanup o? soil Pu is to start on islands in the north. Di\iAw-ii1 hold back funds to cover Run-it cleanup such tha-i:another Itlore intportant cleanup job such as Enjebi, a pr0spcCti l/e vi 11 age Enjebi is not cleaned up, p:hat has been accomplished for the people? 1?1'\1PIi 11 host (not chair) a DNA meeting in early October to try to beitcr define Runit cieanup. ERDA staff had never expected such a higlt prioritS/ be given to Rul;it cieanup, particularly at the expense of cieanup of other areas more important to the Question - Should we talk to DNA, write letters, what? Possibly the best approach is to have DO1 ask DNA the right quest-ion. One approach to try is to get DO1 staff to set up a br-lefing for Winkle and surface the issue that way. Follor~~p on this is needed quickly Regarding revalidation o.f [PA agreement with AEC cleanup criteria, \Jachholz has a draft memo - Liverman to Costel . The cotnmittce briefly reviewed this draft. Cottrrnentsare to be provided to

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Those on Attackd List 5 hundred fifty people b/-i11 rotate in fifty tmn visits to Japlxn @ES will have a qroup periodically revicz NV support of Enwetak cleanup and particularly certification of cleanup (Deal). ERDA wi 11 get Coast Guard Eldg . at Etiwetak for a lab facility. 251: will be needed for modifications to make a cjuicl:move from the old lab facility (Ray). The question of information and education for various Plarshall Islands groups \?as again discussed. Trimble, Gattelle, Seattle, has proposed that baseline infcrmatioti be obtained on k-tet-cthese people are in their understanding of what ERDA is doing. Cotnmunications across cultural lines are extremely difficult. A joint info-education program with DOI is needed. A copy of the Trimble letter will be sent to Peyzen and Ray. Canard has fcund 11 to 12 thyroids that should be sent back to tlawaii for operations (not among the exposed people but once found something twst Ix done) . The possibility of having the operations dcne on lkajalein pi-illbe investigated by GER. The next committee meeting will be scheduled in mid-l\lo:;etn!?er. Any corrections to these notes may be made at that ttmo.