Letter to G T Seaborg, Subject: Proposed Bikini Resettlement Program Resulting from the President's Instruction That the Doi, DOD, & AEC Cooperate in Effecting the Return of Bikini People Home

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‘-+a%y.’” OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY This is in further reference to Act’ingSecretary Black ts letter of November 8, 1968, with which he enclosed a copy of the proposed Bikini resettlement program resulting from the Presidentss instruction that the three agencies, Interior, Defense, and the Ato,micEnergy Commission, cooperate in effecting the return of the Bikini people to their hcxne atoll. That proposed program has had some further review and discussions among representatives of our respective agencies. It includes, however, as an integral part, an estimate of the work of clearing the atoll supplied at our request by the Atomic Energy Comi.ssion. The estimate amounted to $1,200,000. The scope of work and the planning assumptions in that estimate are satisfactory to Interior and the Trust Territory and have, as noted, been incorporated = an integral p~~.of the resettleActing Secretary Blackls letter of Noveiitier 8 stated that impler~entation of the program will require our continued cooperation. The Department of Defense and the AEC have conducted operations in the Bilciniarea in the pest and have essential skills and capabilities in the kind of work involved in clearing of the atoll.that neither the Interior Department nor the Trust Territory Government possesses. Further, I note that the atoll is under Defense Department.jurisdiction at this time under tine existing use and occupancy agree.cent. In the interest of most expeditiously and economically setting about this necessary preliminary task, therefore, I wish formally to request the Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Defense jointly to undertake the clean-up effort embodied in the Bikini pro~am be~inning in the fourth quarter of fiscal year I-969. This includes the removal of test-related structures and debris which are unusable or unsafe and the clearing of vegetative overgrowth. Such an effort will require the use of $600,000 to be rladeavailable in fiscal - year I-969 in equal parts by the Defense Department and the AEC. I am ; informed that each agency is making these funds available for this purpose. For our part, the Department of the Interior is requesting in the fiscal year 1970 Budget the appropriation of $1,700,0W for the Bikini resettlement program. This request includes $600,000 for the completion of the... . .....

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clean-up program and an additional $100,000 estimated to be airlift costs associated with the clean-up program. Upon receipt of these funds from the C!on=~esswe propose to transfer them to whichever agency or command the AEC and Defense Department finally determine should carry ‘out the cleanup work. The development of the Bikini program since the Presidentts a&ouncement of last August has been marked by a high degree of cooperation among all agencies concerned, and I am confident that, as the work progresses, this cooperation will continue. I am sending an identical letter to Hon. Glenn T. Seaborg