The risk assessment officer for a $50 million family housing project at Kaneohe's Marine Corps Base Hawaii has filed complaints with state and federal authorities alleging that the Navy plans to leave con- taminated soil in yards where children will play.

Walter Chun, a consultant for Kona-based Metcalf Construction Co. on the 212-unit project of two-story duplexes, alleges that the Navy ordered Metcalf to not remove or cover soil that has up to 32 parts per million of chlordane, which is 20 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "trigger" level of 1.6 parts per million that requires protective action.

Chun recently filed complaints with the EPA and the state Department of Health about the matter.

"The potential exposure to the families and children was evaluated by the Navy using faulty data, and a cavalier assumption that military families will only be exposed for six years," Chun wrote in his complaint, which he also sent to the Naval Inspector General.

Don Rochon, a spokesman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command-Pacific, said yesterday that the detection of 1.6 parts per million of chlordane in soil triggers an in-depth evaluation of the site.

Chlordane and a related chemical, heptachlor, were widely used as termite pesticides until 1988, when they were banned by the EPA.

Both chemicals were found in the soil at the Marine base housing project in July, as well as heptachlor-epoxide, which is formed when they interact with oxygen in the environment.

Exposure to chlordane can cause gastrointestinal distress, tremors and convulsions from short-term exposure, according to the EPA. Long-term exposure can affect the nervous system and might cause cancer.