NANAKULI — A Pentagon official told a joint Wai'anae Coast and Nanakuli/Ma'ili Neighborhood Board meeting last night that the Army is moving toward the removal of munitions dumped in the ocean after World War II at a site off Wai'anae known as Ordnance Reef.

The announcement came in answer to a question by Wai'anae resident Leandra Wai, following several lengthy and occasionally complicated presentations explaining studies that have been conducted in the area.

"As we go along, I'm beginning to feel like this is just going to turn into one data-collecting project," Wai said. "But, I really want to know whether you plan to remove the stuff."

"That's one of the next subjects we're going to get to," replied Tad Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for the environment. "Because we are moving in that direction."

J.C. King, assistant for munitions and chemical matters with the Army, told the approximately 60 people attending the meeting that the military is now ready to test equipment that would remotely remove some 2,000 explosive devices from the ocean floor at a depth of 130 feet and then detonate them on a barge on the water.

Development of the remotely operated devices could begin as soon as September, using modified equipment used in oil exploration, King said. That process should take about a year, after which the recovery process could actually begin.

The announcement was part of a weeklong effort by Davis, who has been in Honolulu to update Army commanders and community groups about studies focusing on chemical munitions dumped at sea following the end of the war in 1945, as well as other issues affecting the coastal environment.

Army spokesman Howard Sugai said earlier in the week that Davis briefed officials from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and members of the local congressional delegations on environmental issues involving everything from depleted uranium to military training in Makua Valley.

Yesterday afternoon, Davis met with members of the Ordnance Reef Coordinating Council to brief them on studies to monitor and possibly remove bombs littering waters off Wai'anae.

The coordinating council includes representatives of community groups as well as numerous federal and state agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the state Department of Health and the University of Hawai'i.

"Everybody that has a stake or an interest in what goes on offshore has been invited," Sugai said.

Last month NOAA scientists began a year-long study of ocean current patterns around Ordnance Reef. That study, which involves placing four monitoring sensors off the coast, is expected to help officials decide whether munitions should be removed from the area.

A similar sensor will also be placed at another disposal site 32 miles offshore.

The federal Department of Defense is still considering whether to recover what a 2007 NOAA report described as more than 2,000 tons of chemical agents, including cyanide, lewisite, mustard and cyanogens chloride at deeper ocean levels.

Wai'anae resident and Hawaiian activist William Aila is one of a half-dozen community residents who sits on the Coordinating Council.

"The community from the very beginning has said, one, we want to know what the impacts are of those munitions that were dumped off shore," Aila said. "And two, we want the Army to remove those munitions."

An outspoken critic in the past of the military regarding the munitions, Aila said he now has confidence in the outcome of the Ordnance Reef study.

"I have to admit that this process has been as fair as it can be," he said prior to last night's meeting.

"The study is one that all the state and federal agencies and the community agrees is the best study that can be done given the circumstances. And I've got to give kudos to Tad Davis. He has his job, but I also think he has a compassion and a desire to do what's right by the community."