The offshore dumping of military munitions along the Wai'anae Coast was wrong when it happened, starting in the latter days of World War II. Leaving it for decades was negligence, and deciding a year ago that a cleanup is unnecessary was a disgrace.

The latest development, a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declaring that the munitions dump poses no danger, changes none of this.

The Army had made a similar declaration when, earlier this year, large quantities of highly flammable pellets used in artillery and rockets began washing up on the reefs and shoreline in Wai'anae and Ma'ili. And Army officials in the past have expressed willingness to clean the debris.

How can NOAA or the military assert with confidence that ammunition cache stowed off the wave-washed shoreline is completely stable?

The community isn't buying it, and rightly so. The federal government owed the residents a good-faith effort to assess the relative risks of disturbance to the disposal sites and begin cleaning them on a priority basis. Additionally, the military must continue to monitor the beaches for the flammable beads and clear them routinely. The public has been urged to avoid them, and if that's the case, they should be removed from the beaches.

This is a visitor destination, as well as an area treasured by residents. Accepting a persistent risk to beachgoers, young and old, is intolerable.

The Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board is insisting that military officials address the community on the issue. That's the least they can do.

According to the official statement from the Army on the NOAA report, "The Department of Defense will work with state and federal offices to determine the next appropriate course of action."

That next action should be a plan for cleanup.