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DEVELOPMENT OF THE ElO UNT TO BE OFFERED THE FIARSHALLESE A conservative approach to arrive at a figure for Such an approach negotiating radiation damage land claims must involve setting a value in fee for the land. is conservative because in effect, .it amounts to paying be consistent with work done in connection with prepa ration for the Kwa j ale in base negotiations where IWR land \]as appraised to have a value i n fee of $ 4,668 p3r acre, and mid - atoll corridor land was appraised to have a value in fee of $ 3,500 per acre- The land considered to lie in value between that assigned toK and that assigned to the mid-atoll corridor. Thus, fox our purposes it is reasonable to assume a value in fee . Enitretok Atoll has a to kal land area of 1,760 acres, but only about1,100acres are subject to a damage claim. A t $ 4,000per acre, the value in fee of this land j.s abofit $ 4 - 4million,This figure must be adjustcrld for amounts already paid as coin pens ation. Eniwetok has received ex gratia cash payments of about $ 1.2million and have been given car title to land worth about million value in fee less $ 1.6million compensation) does not take into account the extraordinary $ 95million ' effort now underway to cleanup that atoll. For Eniwetok land claim because it makes them whole. Bikini Atoll has a total land area o f about 1,900 acres, all of which are subject to a damage claim. Us j ng the same valuation figure of $ 4,000 per acre, the value in fee of this landis about $ 7.6million. The Bikini people have received about: $ 3.4million in ' compensation,but it is open to question whether these payments shou lh in any way be considered as compensadisruption of the people's lives. Depending o n whether or not these.payments are offset against the $7.6 million land value,the Bikini claim value would range from Ition for land damage as opposed to compensation for
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Atoll and elsewhere in the Northern Marshall s may be subject to a land claim. that no more than500 acres might be subject to such the damage amount, making a total of $ 6.2to $ 3.6 million.Should the radiological survey now in progress result in data to support claims in excess of 500 acres a t Rongelap o r else7:lherer this figure would need t o be revised upward. The best prognosis now i s Asa practical inatter, we cannot assume such an gpa lysis - would be negotiator must have Solile room to maneuver. no matter what the hard facts, it is unlikely Eniwetok will not want some part of a settlement.Setting an upper limit in this context is an arbitrary decision. _ Nevertheless, for practical as well as psychological reasons, the figure of $ 10in ill ionas a boundary makes sense, subject to possible upsmrd revision, rioted i n the preceding paragraph, should the damage a t Rongelap and elsewhere in the Northern Marshall s prove g i - eater than is now foreseen.