GIFF JOHNSON
The absurdity of the US State Department’s position that new money under the Compact, purportedly for the Marshall Islands nuclear legacy, cannot actually be used for any purpose related to the nuclear legacy, was pointed out in a letter by American Samoa Congresswoman Amata Radewagen to the chairmen of the two committees in the House and Senate with primary jurisdiction over the Compact approval process.
She also said that due to the recent US Senate endorsement of broadening nuclear compensation funding for Americans under the US Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, including those living in Guam, “RMI leaders understandably felt misled to believe the current US offer was the best deal Congress would consider.”
Radewagen’s primary message to Senator Joe Manchin and Rep. Bruce Westerman in her September 18 letter is that, “For America and the Pacific, Congress needs to get the Compact of Free Association renewal right this time.”
Radewagen notes that insufficient provisions in the past helped China so the Congress should not repeat mistakes of past. Radewagen’s letter hammers the message that it is high time for Congress to reconcile issues of law and policy that have been confounded by US executive branch staff level interdepartmental agendas that put winning above doing what is right and best.
Radewagen’s September 18 letter went to Senator Manchin, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Rep. Westerman, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources. Both committees exercise oversight of the freely associated states and have already held hearings on the new Compacts under negotiation with the RMI, FSM and Palau.
Radewagen pointed out that from her visit to Majuro with the Congressional delegation in late August, she understood from talking to RMI leaders that “While terms offered by the US currently to address the nuclear testing legacy were not acceptable to RMI, island leaders seemed open to the option for RMI to sign the best deal it could get from the Administration on its proposals to address nuclear testing compensation and seek to improve the terms in Congress for what they view as more beneficial for both US and RMI.”
Radewagen described how the US State Department policy on the nuclear legacy has bottlenecked the negotiations. “RMI welcomes full disclosure and rigorous audit discipline, but the US currently insists not only on accountability but for federal officials to retain approval powers over RMI allocation of funds in order to prevent disbursement for any purpose directly related to nuclear testing,” she said. “The opinion in RMI is that this is over-reaching and there is no documented legal finding or legal opinion supporting these terms.”
In relation to the Senate’s support for expanding nuclear test compensation for Americans, Radewagen said: “RMI leaders don’t begrudge Guam any compensation that might be provided under NDAA (the National Defense Authorization Act) if the Senate bill is enacted, which logically also seemingly would apply to CNMI, Palau and FSM,” she said. “But RMI was ground zero for 67 nuclear tests, and it is already federal law that US accepts responsibility for long term effects of nuclear testing in RMI. That makes US refusal to identify the purpose of nuclear test related measures or allow the same seems in the opinion of the Marshallese leaders as undignified, dishonest, and unjust.”
Radewagen included in her letter to the Congressional leaders a “white paper” that says the State Department’s stonewalling on the nuclear legacy violates the Compact’s Section 177 and rulings in US federal courts that make clear additional compensation “will not re-open statutory court jurisdiction over settled claims.”
The white paper also warns that if the Congress endorses the executive branch’s “policy denying further measures and treating the Section 177 Agreement as providing no further remedies (this) can be expected to result in new litigation reviving constitutional jurisdiction of US courts as to ‘just and adequate’ remedies for taking of the claims of RMI citizens under the espousal provisions of the Section 177 Agreement.”
“Because the nuclear test legacy remains the single greatest hurdle with RMI, an informative and thoughtful ‘white paper’ on that topic recently provided to me is attached, and seems to warrant further inquiry and verification,” Radewagen told Manchin and Westerman.
“…there is obvious and real litigation risk under the Juda v. US (Bikini lawsuit) precedent if the US adopts a legal position that additional measures are not and will not be allowed, which has now become a matter of record before Congress,” the white paper states.
Due to the likelihood that the RMI Compact will not gain Congressional approval by this weekend — September 30 is the end of the current 20-year Compact funding agreement — “temporary budget provisions may become necessary,” Radewagen said to her Congressional colleagues. “Insufficient provisions in the 2003 FSM and RMI COFA statutes, and again when 2010 Palau COFA languished created instability which the People’s Republic of China exploited through ruthless political warfare and economic coercion. Hopefully Congress will not repeat the same mistakes. For America and the Pacific, Congress needs to get COFA renewal right this time.”
The American Samoa Congresswoman with long ties to the Marshall Islands noted: “In turn we should be expect in the days ahead for RMI to decide if it will sign the best deal possible with (Compact negotiator) Yun, and then work with Congress in the legislative process to improve the agreements reached legislatively.”