Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House today gave final approval to the $459.6 billion Defense Appropriation Bill for 2008.  The measure includes $19.6 million requested by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, including funds to begin the clean up of tons of chemical munitions dumped offshore of Oahu at the end of World War II, and for military research and testing, including critical studies into the possible effects of naval sonar systems on whales and dolphins and the development of electronic systems to detect the presence of marine mammals in naval training areas.

“This $5.5 million will pay for sonar mapping, water quality testing and analysis so we know exactly what’s there, how much is there, and critically, what condition containers are in,” said Abercrombie, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces. “Sixty years of saltwater corrosion may have caused a hazard.  These funds will allow us to take the first steps in mitigating a possible environmental time-bomb.”

The program will map the seafloor at the dump sites with high resolution sonar, followed by video transects and direct observation with manned and unmanned submersibles.  Samples of water and sediment taken from surface ships and underwater will be analyzed for toxic compounds.  Plant and animal life in the area will also be collected and analyzed for toxic components.  Results of the analyses will be used to develop an assessment of the risk. Because of the large area of the disposal sites and the relatively small size of individual munitions, state of the art sonar and underwater vehicles will be used.

The 2008 Defense Appropriation also contains $800,000 for continuing research at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology into marine mammal hearing and the effects of underwater sound on the behavior of marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins — a problem that temporarily halted an annual international naval exercise in waters off Hawaii last year.  

Additionally, the bill includes $2.4 million requested by Abercrombie for further research, development and installation of marine mammal detection systems on Navy aircraft, which would survey naval training areas before active sonar is used to avoid harming dolphins and whales. BAE Systems in Hawaii has been involved in the development of an airborne survey system that integrates known marine mammal migration patterns with real time sensors that automatically and harmlessly detect the presence, location, and movement of marine mammals.

Abercrombie and Senator Daniel Inouye were successful in obtaining a $5.2 million appropriation for research into the High Accuracy Network Determination System (HANDS), a global network of sensors that can accurately track objects in space using small inexpensive optics.  One of the U.S. Air Force’s highest priorities is developing the means to identify, track and catalog the growing number of objects in space.  The technology is being developed by the Oceanit Aerospace Group, the Maui-based subsidiary of Oceanit Laboratories, Inc. of Honolulu. 

The Senate is expected to approve the final Defense Appropriations Bill as soon as tomorrow (Friday), and send the bill to the White House.  The defense bill is one of the few 2008 annual appropriations bills that President Bush has not threatened to veto.

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