Letter to S R Yates, Subject: Eniwetok Rehabilitation and Resettlement; Includes Information on Dose Assessment Meeting

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Honorable Sidney F. Yates Subcommittee on Interior House of Representatives U&--/q+&-- As promised in my progress report of July 3, 1979, on Enewetak Rehabilitation and Resettlement Project to your Committee, I am submitting this followup report on recent The Department of Energy during Narch and April of this year ‘1 conducted a new soil survey of Engebi Island and other northern! islands of Enewetak Atoll, and the results were analyzed by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. A draft report entitled, "Prelim!inary Reassesment of the Potential Radiological Doses for Residents Resettling Enewetak Atoll" was issued by DOE on July 23, 1979. This preliminary report has not yet been released because survey results on one additional northem island, Lujor, still have to be factored into the dose calculations. It is not expected that the additional information will substantially alter the exposure estimates '4 Copies. of the final reassessment report will be provided to the Coinmittee as soon as it is released by the Department of Energy.

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The preliminary assessment report, however, enabled actions to take place on a number of pending items, and it is on these Planting of the Northern Islands You will recall from my July 3, 1979, progress report, that planting of the six northern islands of Enewetak (exclusive of Engebi Island) had been held up pending the results of the new soil analysis. The planting of these six northern islands was part of the Cnewetak Rehabilitation Master Plan. The Enewetak Rehabilitation Master Plan, as funded by appropriations through your Committee, called for residence only on the three southern islands of the Atoll, Enewetak, Medren, and Japtan. Coconut and other agricultural planting was to confined to the southern islands and certain of the northern islands. The people of Enewetak agreed to these The exposure analyses in the "Preliminary Reassessment Report" demonstrated that, under certain assumptions and limitattons, all of the radiation exposure estimates would be below the potential situation is outlined in a September 28, 1979, letter from the Dcpartnent of Energy to the Director of the Office of Territorial Affairs. A copy of that letter is enclosed for your information.

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On the basis of the DOE analysis, the decision was made in September to proceed with the plantinq of coconut trees on these six northern islands and the planting program on these islands now is underway. The "Preliminary Dose Reassessment Report" also permitted the "Dose Assessmentn meeting that the people of Enewetak had requested in December 1978, to take place. This meeting with the people of Enewetak originally had been scheduled for May 1979. For various reasons, it had to be rescheduled and the meeting was held on Ujelang Island on September 19 and 20. The && of the people of Enewetak still reside on Ujelang pending a return to Enewetak Atoll. The Department of the Interior was represented at the September meeting on Ujelang by th e Solicitor of the Department, Mr. Leo At the December 197E meeting, the Department of Energy had been requested to give a risk assessment review to tl:c people of Enewetak. Subsequently, in July 1979, the Legal Advisor for the people of Enewetak, Nr. Theodore Xitcllell, Micronesian Legal Services Corporation, informed the Department of Energy that he had retained scientific consultants and he would not need to rely upon the Department of Energy for that type of information. The Department of Energy and this Department believe , however, that the United States

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executive branch also had a responsibility to report on conditions at Enewetak Atoll to the people. The Department of Energy, accordingly, prepared a presentation which was given tothe people of Enewetak at the meeting The presentation was given in Marshallese, slides shown, and a booklet describing the conditions on Atoll was distributed tothe people. The booklet, "Enewetak Atoll Today", is in Marshallese and English and copies were provided hr all &z&&s of the community. A copy of "Enewetak Atoll Today" is enclosed for the Committee's The Legal Counsel for the people of Enewetak and the independent consultants presented a risk assessment tothe people at a closed session to which government representatives were not invited. Copies of the presentation given by scientists retained by the Micronesian Legal Services s Corporation will be provided as soon as their are received from the Legal Advisor for the people of Enewctak. The consultants for the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation contend that the risks from living on Engebi Island are so small as to be essentially insignificant. In their estimation, only approximately one additional cancer death in the lifetime of the population would result, and they believe that it rriight take five gererations before e\'en one

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extra case of a birth defect would appear. The Department of Energy and its scientific advisors agree, in general, with this interpretation of the risk analysis. The DOE risk analysis for living on Engebi Island under varying conditions are shown in the diagrams"-and explanations on pages 22-24 of the Booklet, "Enewetak Atoll Today". This Department, however, holds that as long as the United 7 States retains a trust responsibility for the people of ’; Enewetak, and so long as the United States is potentially i liable for erroneous decisions, there will be some issues / relating to Enewetak Resettlenient that cannot be decided 1 by vote of the Enewetakese. It is our opinion that, even ; though the risk of living on Engebi Island appears to be / slight, and even though the people of Engebi have expressed' a strong desire to live on Engebi, a final decision cannot be made without further study. It should be noted that when the Cleanup Program was authorizcr1 and funded by the Congress, the Armed Services Ccmzittee m3dc clear that there was to be no resettlement permitted in the Energy Research and Development Administration were met. Senate Armed Services Committee Report 94-157 of Ib:ay22, 1975, page 10, on the Enewetak Cleanup funding by the Degjartment of Defense stated: (Underlining ours)

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"The Committee agreed to a one time authorization of $20 million to accomplish the cleanup. The Department is charged'to accomplish the cleanup within that amount using every possible economy measure. The Committee insists that radiation standards established by the Energy Research and Development Agency be met before any resettlement be accomplished." In hearings that gave rise that report, Mr. Mitchell, then as now counsel for the people of Encwetak, supported the above result, at hearings of May 7, 1975 on H.R. 5210 before the Subcommittee on Military Installations and the standards that they have set. So that the ultimate objective, the premise of the cleanup program, is that when it is done, there will not be a danger, a risk, for these people, for the entire atoll. ....I don't want these people to be endangered Similarly, when the Department of InteriorIs request for rehabilitation and resettlement funds was under consideration beforeyour Subcommittee on March 17, 1977, there was

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strong reiteration that Federal Radiation standards would be followed. General Warren I>, Johnson, then Director of DNA, was a backup witness at this hearing and testified: (p. 768) . . . The Department of Defense is committed to clean the island up to the standards established by ERDA, and ERDA is committed to assure we have reached those standards, so this is a coordinated effort. In other words, we cannot mote anybody back until ERDA says, "You halie done what we have said has to be done." The fi:3ster Plan for the Encwetak Rehabilitation and Resettlement Program that \:as submitted to your Committee for funding in 1977 was dc\~elopd around the radiation standard stipulations set forth by the Department of Energy and by Congress when it approved the cleanup funding. As noted ear$r in this report, the Master Plan called only for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the three southern islands, Enewetak, Hedran, and ,Japtan, and for the plal,ting of only certain of the northern islands as well as the sotithern islands. Engebi Island was not to be used for tile next elements in the soil had The people of Enewetak agreed to these stipulations and had a major role in the development of the approved Master Plan. Thus, in addition to the radiation risk elements still unresolved, res~ttl~In~nt_ of the Engebi people on Engehi

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Island at this time wou Id be a major change in the cleanup and rehabilitation plan. Congress also has not authorized funds, as yet, to provide for housing and community facilities Noz-ietheless, given the present desire of the people of E:lgebi, that in spite of the risk elements involved they wish to reside orI Engebi Island , this Department has indicated it would study the matterfurther with knowledge of the l'eople's preference. This study now is underway. Irrespective cf the final deci sion with respect to Engebi, of which we will advise you when it is made, atiditional fur;di!-ig for the Enc-wetak Project would appear to be necessary. Should it finally be decided 'that housing and community facilities should be built at this time on Engehi, funding for these facilities will be required. Conversely, if the decision is that Engcbi should remain "off-limits" for residential and other purposes for another 35-50 years, it is our belief that the U.S. Government has a moral and legal obligation to provide, before termination of the trusteeship, a suitable financial arrangement that wollld insure the atail.ity of the people of Engebi to build appropriate I!ousing and community facilities on Engebi at a period in the future when the . This matter also is under study and p?e will keep the Committee informed of developments.