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WALTER J. HICKEL, GOVERNOR 



DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 



OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER / Phone:(907)465-5000 



410 WILLOUGHBY AVENUE. SUITE 105 ' Fax: (907) 465-5070 



JUNEAU, AK 99801-1795 



August 28, 1992 



The Honorable Frank H. Murkowski, Co-chairman 

 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 

 United States Senate 

 ATTENTION DAVID GARMAN 

 Rm. 21 1 Hart Senate Building 

 Washington, DC 20510 



Dear Senator Murkowski: 



Thank you for holding the Select Committee on Intelligence open hearing on radiation 

 and environmental threats to the Arctic from the former Soviet Union on August 15. 

 This was truly an extraordinary hearing and the State of Alaska appreciated the 

 opportunity to testify. 



With this letter, we wish to follow up on our suggestions for an action plan to further 

 identify and respond to the threats discussed at the hearing. The Alaska Department 

 of Environmental Conservation is one of several State agencies with responsibility for 

 health and the environment; we work closely with the Alaska Department of Health and 

 Social Services and with the Alaska Division of Emergency Services in the Department 

 of Military and Veterans Affairs. The Alaska Department of Rsh and Game also carries 

 responsibilities in this arena. All of our Departments participate in the Northern Forum, 

 an association of state, provincial and regional governors from Northern regions which 

 is chaired by Governor Walter J. Hickel with a secretariat in Anchorage. As well, each 

 of our agencies deal with counterpart federal agencies through a variety of cooperative 

 agreements. 



The key points of action we suggest in follow-up to what we've learned at the hearing, 

 in coordinated federal and State action, are as follows: 



1. The United States needs to establish a real-time radiation monitoring 

 - system in Alaska and, through bilateral or multilateral agreements, 

 Russian territory which neighbors Alaska. The State of Alaska is anxious 

 to cooperate in this program. Our letter to the Environmental Protection 

 Agency's (EPA) Rear Admiral Richard J. Guimond, describing this 



