The Army, on behalf of the Defense Department, said it is meeting this week with state and federal officials and members of the Wai'anae Coast community to discuss military munitions that were dumped at what's known as "Ordnance Reef."

A discussion between Army officials and the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board and community members is set for 6:30 to 8:30 tonight at Nanaikapono Elementary School, 89-153 Mano Ave., Nanakuli.

Tad Davis, a deputy assistant secretary of the Army for environmental safety and occupational health, said the decision on how to respond to the military munitions will be made with input from federal and state agencies and affected communities.

But Davis, who also met with Wai'anae Coast community members in March 2006 over the issue, stopped short of saying there will be a cleanup.

"These discussions will provide the input for consideration in developing a course of action that best addresses community concerns and any risks these munitions may pose to human health and the environment," Davis said in a news release.

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha), said the fact that Davis is here, talking to the community and getting input "is a good first step." But she added that "as far as the community is concerned, it wants Ordnance Reef ... cleaned up."

Wai'anae Coast residents in April demanded that the military clean up thousands of tons of explosive and chemical munitions dumped decades ago in relatively shallow and deep waters off the Wai'anae Coast.

Ordnance Reef covers a five-square-mile area off Poka'i Bay where munitions have been found in water 45 feet to several hundred feet deep.

The call was preceded by the release of a study conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that concluded that about 2,000 rounds of dumped ammunition, including 3-foot artillery projectiles, pose no danger in relatively shallow waters.

Davis, who is based in Washington, D.C., also will field questions on munitions disposal issues during a live blog chat tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. at www.honoluluadvertiser.com /opinion.

Publicity about the U.S. military's practice of dumping chemical and conventional weapons at sea during and after World War II led to records that 4,220 tons of hydrogen cyanide were dumped somewhere off Pearl Harbor in 1944.

In 1945, off Wai'anae, the Army dumped thousands of hydrogen cyanide bombs, cyanogen chloride bombs, mustard bombs and lewisite containers. Charts identified some as being in 1,600 feet of water.

Davis last year said dumping the munitions in the ocean was considered the safest way to dispose of the weapons 60 years ago. He also said the military did not think the munitions should be retrieved.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, however, has said he thinks the Ordnance Reef munitions should be cleaned up. The deep water munitions may be a different story.

"They've got to determine where (the munitions) are, exactly what state they are in. Can they be raised, or should they be raised?" Abercrombie spokesman Dave Helfert said. "It is possible that some of them or all of them are actually safer where they are rather than if they tried to raise them and broke the containers."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.