Senate Committee to Review US Nuke Legacy in Marshall Islands

A Senate oversight hearing to receive testimony regarding the effects of the U.S. nuclear testing program on the Marshall Islands is scheduled for Tuesday, July 19, at 2:30 p.m. The hearing is in response to a pledge to consider the Republic of the Marshall Islands' Changed Circumstances Petition following the US Administration's review. The Petition was submitted over 5 years ago to Congress. Tomorrow's hearing, convened by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will be the second congressional hearing on the issue since the authorization of the new Compact of Free Association between the US and RMI.

RMI officials and witnesses presented a case for the changed circumstances before the House Resources and International Affairs Asia and Pacific Subcommittee on May 25. A large contingent of Marshall Islanders, including representatives of the four nuclear testing impacted atolls, traveled to Washington, D.C. for the hearing, many of who will be in attendance for the Senate hearing.

The RMI believes there are "moral, legal and scientific grounds for additional funds for the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, healthcare programs and the loss of property."

In January 2005, the US administration rejected the Petition, stating that according to its review, there were no grounds for changed circumstances, and that the two nations had signed an agreement for a full and final settlement for US nuclear testing compensation to the Islands. The State department witness reiterated this decision in his testimony before the House hearing.

Several new US agency reports are lending a favorable outlook for the Marshall Islands cause. Even low radiation doses are harmful, states the National Academy of Science report released in June. A US National Cancer Institute investigation, requested by Congress, estimates that there will be 500 more cases of cancer in the Marshall Islands' exposed population. During the Cold War Era, over a 12 year period, the US performed 67 tests in the Marshall Islands, depositing a legacy of disease and displacement that still impacts today.

Witnesses for the Marshall Islands, scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee, are Minister of Foreign Affairs Gerald Zackios, Dr. Neal A. Palafox of the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, and James H. Plasman, Chairman, Nuclear Claims Tribunal.

Howard Kravitz, Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. State Department, Thomas Lum of the Congressional Research Service, Dr. Kiyohiko Mabuchi of the National Cancer Institute, and Dr. Steve Simon are expected to testify.

--by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, July 18, 2005