$59 million, gone: How Bikini Atoll leaders blew through US trust fund

In the 1940s and ’50s, the US government used Bikini Atoll, in the Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands, for testing nuclear weapons. Recognizing the damage its testing caused, the US government established two trust funds in the 1980s to help pay for Bikinians’ health care, build housing, and cover living costs. In 2017, after a campaign by Bikini leaders for greater autonomy, the Trump administration announced that the government would lift withdrawal limits and stop auditing the main fund, then worth $59 million. Six years later, only about $100,000 remains, and the Bikini community is in crisis.

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