[House Report 106-404]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session 106-404
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RONGELAP RESETTLEMENT ACT OF 1999
_______
October 20, 1999.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2970]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill
(H.R. 2970) to prescribe certain terms for the resettlement of
the people of Rongelap Atoll due to conditions created at
Tongelap during United States administration of the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, report favorably thereon without
amendment and recommend that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 2970, the Rongelap Resettlement Act of
1999, is to prescribe certain terms for the resettlement of the
people of Rongelap Atoll due to conditions created at Rongelap
during United States administration of the Trust Territory of
the Pacific Islands, and for other purposes.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Rongelap Atoll is one of four atolls in the Marshall
Islands which were contaminated by high level radiation due to
nuclear testing during the time the islands were administered
as a trust territory by the United States. The total estimated
cost for radiological rehabilitation of Rongelap Island and
resettlement of the Rongelap community at Rongelap was
estimated in 1995 at approximately $90 million. This estimate
was presented to the Committee on Resources by qualified
engineers who developed the resettlement plan for Rongelap
under a contract supervised by the Department of the Interior,
and on the basis of independent scientific recommendations for
remediation of radiological conditions at Rongelap confirmed by
the Department of Energy and the National Academy of Science.
The process through which the Rongelap Resettlement Program
has been developed, approved and implemented under the
oversight of the Committee on Resources was first authorized in
1986 under Section 103(i) of Public Law 99-239, implementing
the Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands.
Congress expressed its clear intent in that provision that
additional actions might be necessary to insure that the atoll
was suitable for habitation:
It is the intent of Congress that such steps (if any)
as are necessary to restore the habitability of
Rongelap Island and return the Rongelap people to their
homeland will be taken by the United States in
consultation with the Government of the Marshall
Islands and . . . the Rongelap local government
council.
Rongelap's resettlement and radiological rehabilitation has
been funded through a trust fund mechanism established by
Congress in 1991 under Public Law 102-154 (105 Stat. 1009).
However, in 1996, in lieu of appropriation of the full amount
of $90 million, under section 118(d) of Public Law 104-134,
Congress adopted a policy of funding Rongelap resettlement at a
lower cost to taxpayers by contributing to the trust fund
lesser amounts and encouraging methodical and cost-effective
resettlement. A total of approximately $40 million has been
appropriated to date, with the understanding that the Rongelap
Atoll local government would be responsible for prudential
management of the assets of the trust fund to implement the
resettlement plan.
The lower trust fund level requires that the pace of the
resettlement program must be controlled and that the local
government must establish priorities for each element of a
phased program of resettlement projects, so that the depletion
of the trust fund assets will be at least partially offset by
income from investment of the trust fund. The objective is to
enable the people of Rongelap, acting through their local
constitutional process, to manage their own affairs and the
resettlement process itselfto the greatest extent possible. For
this to occur, it is necessary to ensure that the local government has
the institutional capabilities and the resources to administer and
manage the resettlement program.
Consistent with this policy, under Section 118(d) of Public
Law 104-134, Congress accepted the resettlement plan developed
by the Rongelap Atoll local government and provided for
contributions to the trust fund by federal agencies, including
the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior,
which brought the U.S. contribution up the $40 million level.
In both Public Law 102-154 and Public Law 104-134 Congress
required that the use of trust fund assets be in accordance
with agreements between the Rongelap Atoll Local Government
Council (RALGOV), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI)
and the Department of the Interior, and that all distributions
and use of such funds be subject to disapproval of the
Secretary of the Interior.
Congress expressly required the President to establish an
agreement to govern the resettlement process as intended by
Public Law 104-134. In fulfillment of that requirement, on
September 19, 1996, the Secretary of the Department of the
Interior acting on behalf of the President, entered into an
``Agreement Regarding United States Assistance in the
Resettlement of Rongelap Concluded Between the United States
Department of the Interior and Rongelap Atoll Local
Government'' (see Appendix A). The agreement, as amended, is
comprehensive, including provisions for resettlement,
radiological rehabilitation of the islands, reconstruction, as
well as community recovery and reunification programs.
The entire principle of the trust fund and at least 50
percent of the annual income (interest and earnings) are
dedicated to the island rehabilitation, reconstruction and
resettlement support programs at Rongelap Island. An amount not
to exceed 50 percent of the annual income is made available to
the Rongelap Atoll local government to manage and administer
the resettlement program through the local government
structure. This enables the local government to carry out
community recovery programs and address the needs of the
Rongelap people through local government services, and support
efforts which are currently dispersed over an oceanic area
almost as large as the state of Arizona, including at Majuro,
Ebeye and the desolate island of Mejatto in Kwajalein Atoll.
While the entire agreement has no expiration date, the
provision for the annual budget process with the local
government terminates at the end of five years unless otherwise
provided by Congress. Aware of the potential disruption that
would occur if the agreement was changed or the budget
provision was allowed to lapse, the Rongelap Atoll Local
Government Council approved Resolution Number 99-10 on July 9,
1999, expressing support for continuation of the 1996 Rongelap
Resettlement Agreement in federal law. This resolution was
transmitted to the Committee on Resources by the RMI national
government on July 12, 1999 (see Appendix B).
It is the expiring provisions of the 1996 agreement which
have enabled the Rongelap Atoll local government to manage the
resettlement program successfully. Congressional policy for the
resettlement, as prescribed in Public Law 104-134 and involving
the Atoll's local government, has proven very successful.
Community recovery as well as island rehabilitation and
reconstruction projects have exceeded all expectations and
predictions for success since Congress initiated the Rongelap
recovery project under the trust fund agreement dated May 13,
1992, as amended, concluded pursuant to Public Law 102-154 (see
Appendix C).
If the current arrangement was permitted to terminate next
year, a resettlement administering authority that would
essentially duplicate the local government would have to be
established and funded to organize and mobilize the community
for resettlement, a process that will take at least ten years
to complete. Thus, in addition to ratifying the approach taken
by the Interior Department in implementing the 1996
resettlement agreement to date, this legislation ensures
Rongelap local government funding provisions are extended for
the next ten years.
The Committee has received information regarding the
implementation of the resettlement program from the Department
of the Interior, the RMI national government, and the Rongelap
Atoll local government, both through the process of routine
oversight and during the Committee's oversight visit to the
Marshall Islands on February 20 and 21, 1999, as well as the
briefing and hearing on the effects of the nuclear testing
which the Committee conducted on May 10 and 11, 1999. As a
result, the Committee concludes that the Rongelap resettlement
process to be proceeding in a satisfactory and successful
manner.
The Department of the Interior has been charged to carry
out the policy of Congress embodied in Public Laws 99-239, 102-
154 and 104-134, to provide for resettlement and radiological
rehabilitation of Rongelap, including specific resettlement
construction projects. Congress also intended to promote the
development at the local government level of the institutional
capacity to manage the resettlement program under the local
constitution and laws. The devolution of authority from the
Office of Insular Affairs, Department of the Interior in
Washington, D.C., to the Rongelap Atoll local government and
the RMI national government, represents an historic model for
success in promoting recovery from the nuclear testing program
for an island community in the RMI.
In addition to the infrastructure construction projects at
Rongelap itself which are making radiological remediation
possible, the political and cultural infrastructure of the
Rongelap people also is being rebuilt through this process.
This has required that the Department of the Interior, the RMI
and the local government agree on terms for administration of
the trust fund under Public Law 102-154 and implementation of
the resettlement program agreement under Public Law 104-134
that are consistent with but not expressly set forth in those
public laws.
This includes the previously referenced agreements under
which up to 50 percent of the income from the trust fund has
been distributed to the Rongelap Atoll local government so that
it has the resources and the administrative capability to
operate out of the City Hall and Resettlement Program
Headquarters in Majuro to provide local government services and
support resettlement in an effective manner. Originally there
was a $500,000 annual cap on the amount available to the local
government, but this was when the trust fund assets were less
than $7 million. In more recent years as the corpus has grown,
the Department of the Interior has agreed to increased
allocations for local government administration of the program
within the overall 50 percent cap.
Without this arrangement, including the ability to meet
administrative costs of local government operations necessary
to support resettlement, the Rongelap community could never
have taken responsibility for the resettlement program and made
it their own. It would have been something done by the United
States for them, and there would have been frustration and
mistrust in all probability. Instead, the allocation of
resources to operate the resettlement program through the local
government made the difference between the present successful
program and what might well have been another less than
satisfactory result. It is significant that the organic
instruments authorizing the entire resettlement program now
taking place include RALGOV Resolution 95-20, approving the
overall resettlement plan (Appendix D).
In addition, the policy of implementing resettlement
through the local government has promoted economy and
efficiency by eliminating the need to establish a separate
agency or authority to manage resettlement. In addition, the
Department of the Interior has been able to work closely with
the local government to improve bookkeeping, financial
management controls and open transparent budget processes that
have strengthened local self-government and will continue to do
so in the future. This is an important goal behind Public Law
102-154 and Public Law 104-134.
The lesson of the Rongelap resettlement program is that
enabling the local community to take responsibility and manage
its own affairs within the framework of policy defined by
Congress can be the best way to accomplish U.S. policy goals.
Similarly, the history of U.S. programs in the islands of the
former trust territory is that micro-management by federal
officials entangles the U.S. in internal matters and prevents
the island peoples from being enabled to manage their own
affairs. This too often has led to disavowal of the results by
both the U.S. and the islanders when there are problems, as
well as liability for the U.S. in some cases.
Thus, the most important U.S. role is to ensure federal
funds are subject to adequate internal controls and sound
financial management, which the Department of the Interior has
done by helping the Rongelap local government transform a
dysfunctional internal budget process into a fiscal operation
which meets government accounting standards. In addition, the
Secretary of the Interior has final authority to disapprove the
use of trust fund assets, but experience shows that power
should only be used to ensure funds are spent responsibly and
for purposes that advance resettlement.
In the case of Rongelap, giving the local government some
authority and discretion has resulted in a more aggressive
resettlement schedule than the United States could have
anticipated, and the actual construction projects are ahead of
schedule. In addition, the local government is using trust fund
assets for matching fund projects with the Department of Energy
and the RMI government to accelerate resettlement.
Through enactment of H.R. 2970, the Committee supports
long-term continuity of the current policy and practice for
carrying out the resettlement program through the local
government. The Secretary is specifically charged with the
responsibility to disapprove expenditures that are formally
determined not to effectively advance resettlement. However,
the local government's management and annual planning for the
resettlement process is not subject to disapproval that is
merely subjective, as that would cause the disruption of a
successful program.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 2970 was introduced on September 29, 1999, by
Congressman Don Young (R-AK) and cosponsored by Congressman
George Miller (D-CA). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Resources. The Committee previously conducted an oversight
visit to the Marshall Islands on February 20 and 21, 1999, and
met leaders and members of the Rongelap Community in Majuro and
Kwajalein concerning the resettlement and radiological
rehabilitation process. The Committee also held a hearing in
Washington, D.C., on May 11, 1999, and considered the report by
the representatives of the Rongelap Atoll local government
regarding the progress and success of the Rongelap Resettlement
program. The Administration testified as to the success of
Rongelap's resettlement based on the September 16, 1996,
Rongelap Resettlement Agreement between the Secretary of the
Interior and the Marshall Islands and the Rongelap Atoll local
government.
On October 6, 1999, the Full Resources Committee met to
consider the bill. No amendments were offered and the bill was
then ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives
by voice vote.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations
are reflected in the body of this report.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the United
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation.--Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act.--As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. Government Reform Oversight Findings.--Under clause
3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the Committee has received no report of
oversight findings and recommendations from the Committee on
Government Reform on this bill.
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate.--Under clause
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, October 15, 1999.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2970, the Rongelap
Resettlement Act of 1999.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is John R.
Righter.
Sincerely,
Barry B. Anderson
(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 2970--Rongelap Resettlement Act of 1999
H.R. 2970 would extend by 10 years certain provisions of a
1996 agreement between the Department of the Interior and the
local government of the Rongelap Atoll. The agreement provides
and oversees the use of federal assistance in resettling the
people of Rongelap, who were displaced from their island as a
result of the U.S. government's testing of nuclear weapons in
the Marshall Islands during the 1950s. (The Rongelap Atoll is
part of the Marshall Islands, a country that entered into a
compact of free association with the United States in 1986.)
The bill would allow the local government to continue using
a portion of the earnings from the Rongelap Resettlement Trust
Fund to provide food and shelter to the Rongelap people during
their period of dislocation and to cover certain administration
expenses. Although the federal government has imposed
restrictions on how the monies appropriated into the trust fund
(which has already been counted as outlays) can be used, the
funds belong to the people of Rongelap and thus are nonfederal.
Consequently, enacting the bill would have no impact on the
federal budget. Because the bill would not affect direct
spending or receipts, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply.
H.R. 2970 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
Enactment of this legislation would benefit the local
government of the Rongelap Atoll.
The CBO staff contact is John R. Righter. This estimate was
approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for
Budget Analysis.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
APPENDICES
A. Rongelap Resettlement Agreement, as amended.
B. RMI transmittal of RALGOV Resolution 99-10.
C. 1992 Resettlement Trust Fund Agreement, as amended.
D. RALGOV Resolution 95-20, Approving the Resettlement
Plan.