With public health and safety at the heart of community concerns over the cleanup of a military former dumpsite at Bellows Beach, the military must get the job done responsibly — and in a timely matter. That's all part of being a good neighbor.

So it's encouraging to see Congress on the right path to providing the funds needed to to just that. The House, led by Hawai'i Rep. Mazie Hirono, passed a measure approving the $2.5 million for the cleanup; now it's up to the Senate to support that effort.

The cleanup is no small matter: The site contains 8,500 tons of landfill-type waste tenuously covered by a layer of sand. That includes bottles and cans, scrap metal and lumber, military officials said.

And, as the military notes, it is required to follow stringent state and federal Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, which in some cases require studies.

For its part, the Air Force says it is trying to not only be good stewards of the land, but also of taxpayers' dollars; it will work collaboratively with the Marines, that, due to a 1999 transfer in ownership, now own the site.

Hirono said the funds she is requesting would go specifically for the cleanup effort, not for additional studies.

And the urgency is clear.

"All it would take is an ocean surge, or a tsunami or heavy, heavy rains and that could cause this areas to slip into the ocean and that would be a health and safety issue," Hirono said.

Let's hope the Senate and the military players involved see those stakes just as clearly.