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Pombo: 177 to live on
 Secretary
of Interior Gale Norton, the highest ranking American
government official to visit the RMI since 1988, and Rep.
Richard Pombo (below), who chairs the House Resources
Committee, met with President Note and officials from
nuclear test-affected islands Tuesday evening. Pombo said he
wants to settle America’s nuclear test debt.
Pombo wants to settle
American nuclear debt
By GIFF JOHNSON
 America’s
nuclear test legacy in the Marshall Islands must be
resolved, Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House
Resources Committee, told the Journal Tuesday night during
the US Congressional delegation’s visit to Majuro.
“Obviously, the United States has an ongoing liability (for
the nuclear test legacy),” said Pombo, who led the
seven-member Congressional delegation that included US
Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, the highest level US
administration official to visit the RMI since 1988.
In an interview, Norton
said she was “moved by the problems faced” by the four
nuclear test-affected atolls, whose leaders met with her and
the Congressional delegation for an hour Tuesday afternoon.
She said the visit, her
first, was important because she “had a chance to meet
people and see the Marshall Islands first hand. I have a
greater understanding of the issues.”
Norton said that because
Interior is not the lead agency handling the review of the
RMI “changed circumstances” nuclear compensation petition
she couldn’t say when the administration’s review will be
provided to the US Congress.
But Pombo said that he
believes that having both Norton on the trip together with
members of his committee will help to speed the process. The
visit “will help to relay the sense of urgency (for
completing the petition review) back to the Bush
administration,” Pombo said.
“The Resources Committee
plans to pursue this issue through hearings,” he said.
While Pombo said he’s
prepared to call a hearing, the plan is being held up by
Bush administration delays in releasing the review.
“It doesn’t make sense to
have hearings until we have the report from the
administration,” he said. “We need information. We need the
report to come out.”
But Pombo made it clear
he’s committed to holding a hearing, “especially after
coming here.” He said the meeting with the senators and
mayors from the four atolls on Tuesday gives “a sense of
what we’re dealing with and puts a face on the issues.”
He specifically addressed
the 177 Health Program, whose funding expired last year.
“One way or another this will be addressed,” he said.
“Either administratively or through Congressional action.”
The health program was
funded by the first Compact but there is no specific
provision for it in the new, amended Compact. But, said
Pombo of the health program, “We have responsibility.”
Pombo said that he hoped
that through hearings on the issues and negotiations between
the two nations that “we can reach a place where our
responsibility to the four atolls can have some closure.
This issue is 50 years old. At some point we need to find
closure.”
He said that he’s
optimistic that because of the “strong relationship with the
Marshall Islands we can reach that point.” |
