Restive with the pace of the Army's document search of chemical weapons dumping off O'ahu, U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie yesterday said the Army needs to launch simultaneous efforts to determine the danger posed by munitions in coastal waters and to develop a monitoring program.

Abercrombie said members of Congress are expressing broad concern over the revelation that the Army after World War II dumped thousands of tons of its most lethal chemical weapons stockpile into the ocean off Hawai'i, 10 other states and several other countries. He said that five or six of those nations, mostly in Asia and including both Australia and New Zealand, are making inquires to the United States over the weapons dumping off their shores.

"It's clear to me that we've got to move this along," said the Hawai'i representative, who serves on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.

"It appears that there's multiple inquiries going on, all of which is understandable, but none of which is very productive. I'll ask them to move ahead with a single report that will be available to everyone, including the public."

In a statement issued last week, deputy assistant secretary of the Army Addison Davis IV, who oversees the service's environment, safety and occupational health concerns, said the Army and the other services are "working very deliberately to research archival records" to learn more about the dates and locations of Hawai'i dumping. An Army report released in 2001 said more than 8,000 tons of chemical weapons and bulk war chemicals were dumped off Wai'anae and Pearl Harbor in 1944 and 1945.

Davis said the military will provide the National Oceanic & Atmospherc Administration with details on the disposal sites so navigational charts can be updated. He said the Army is also searching past studies on the condition of dumped munitions and possible environmental effects at disposal sites.

"As our research effort progresses, we are simultaneously coordinating with other federal agencies to ensure that every effort is being made to accurately characterize the situation at each sea-disposal site," he said in a letter published in Sunday's Advertiser.

But Abercrombie said the United States must do more than simply research old documents and studies.

"I'm a little concerned that this thing is taking on a little bit of a circus atmosphere. They're going through various and sundry archival searches, but we need to find out whether there is volatility from these chemicals and get a monitoring system set up," he said.

The chemical weapons dumped off O'ahu were stockpiled on the island during World War II. They included blister agents lewisite and mustard, which could include nitrogen mustard, sulfur mustard or both. These chemicals cause severe blistering of the skin and are caustic to the lungs and mucous membranes. The other chemicals are the poisons hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride.

Abercrombie said preliminary indications are that some of the material may be in water so deep and so far from shore that it is unlikely to be a threat to humans or the environment.

"A lot of this is simply in a watery tomb, and it may be that leaving it where it is is the best solution available," he said.

However, there is also information that some of the material may be in water depths regularly probed by fishing efforts, and closer to shore.

"To the degree and extent that it is close to shore, it needs to be monitored," he said. "Fortunately, we have the undersea research vehicles if we need them" at the University of Hawai'i's Hawai'i Undersea Research Laboratory.

The Army in the Pacific has established a dedicated phone line that residents can call if they have personal knowledge of sea disposal. Callers can leave messages with their information at 438-2662.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.