[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 692 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 692

 Commending the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the 
  contributions and sacrifices they made to the United States nuclear 
  testing program in the Marshall Islands, solemnly acknowledging the 
 first detonation of a hydrogen bomb by the United States on March 1, 
1954, on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and remembering that 
60 years ago the United States began its nuclear testing program in the 
                           Marshall Islands.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 2006

 Mr. Faleomavaega (for himself and Mr. Flake) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Commending the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the 
  contributions and sacrifices they made to the United States nuclear 
  testing program in the Marshall Islands, solemnly acknowledging the 
 first detonation of a hydrogen bomb by the United States on March 1, 
1954, on the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, and remembering that 
60 years ago the United States began its nuclear testing program in the 
                           Marshall Islands.

Whereas between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in 
        the Marshall Islands, all of which were atmospheric;
Whereas the most powerful of these tests was the BRAVO shot, a 15-megaton device 
        detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini atoll;
Whereas the BRAVO shot alone was the equivalent to 1,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs;
Whereas 17 other tests in the Marshall Islands were in the megaton range, and 
        the total yield of the 67 tests was 108 megatons, the equivalent yield 
        of more than 7,000 Hiroshima bombs; 93 times the total of Nevada 
        atmospheric tests; and the equivalent yield of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs 
        fired every day for 12 years in the Marshall Islands;
Whereas in July 1998, the United States Center for Disease Control estimated 
        that 6,300,000,000 billion curies of radioactive iodine-131 were 
        released to the atmosphere as a result of the testing in the Marshall 
        Islands;
Whereas the people of Rongelap Atoll, the inhabited island closest to the ground 
        zero locations, remain in exile;
Whereas the 177 agreement under the Compact of Free Association between the 
        United States and the Marshall Islands was based on a study done by the 
        Department of Energy titled the ``1978 Radiological Survey of the 
        Northern Marshalls'', which was presented to the Marshallese as the 
        definitive study on the full extent of damages in the Marshall Islands;
Whereas since the negotiation of the Compact of Free Association and the 177 
        agreement, the Department of Energy has released additional information, 
        previously classified, revealing that information was withheld during 
        negotiations from Marshallese negotiators, American negotiators, and 
        Congress that would have prevented the agreement had the full extent of 
        the damage of nuclear weapons testing been known;
Whereas the Marshall Islands have filed a Changed Circumstance Petition with the 
        United States, but it has not yet been negotiated;
Whereas the National Academy of Sciences released the Biological Effects of 
        Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) VII Report in July 2005 reaffirming the 
        conclusion of the 1990 BEIR V report that every exposure to radiation 
        produces a corresponding increase in cancer risk;
Whereas the United States must assist the people of the Marshall Islands to help 
        them extricate themselves from the legacy of the nuclear age and the 
        burden of providing testing grounds for nuclear weapons; and
Whereas the importance of the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction 
        must also include the essential nonproliferation of illness, forced 
        relocation, and social and cultural ills in the indigenous communities 
        that paid disproportionately for the adverse consequences of weapons 
        processing, deployment, and storage: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives --
            (1) commends the people of the Republic of the Marshall 
        Islands for the contributions and sacrifices they made to the 
        United States nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands;
            (2) solemnly acknowledges the first detonation of a 
        hydrogen bomb by the United States on March 1, 1954, on the 
        Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands; and
            (3) remembers that 60 years ago the United States began its 
        nuclear testing program in the Marshall Islands.
                                 <all>