The Army still has not determined the location of most of the more than 8,000 tons of chemical munitions dumped off O'ahu at the end of World War II, but says that if their containers fail, most of the chemicals would break down into nontoxic compounds.

The exception, according to an Army report released yesterday, is the blister agent lewisite, which could leave elevated levels of arsenic in seafloor sediment and in ocean water.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, are writing legislation that would call for a complete underwater survey of dumping sites, and for research into their long-term threats to public and environmental health and the possibility and cost of cleaning them up.

Abercrombie said the legislators hope to include the provisions in the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act.

"No one knows exactly where these weapons are, how many tons are out there, what impact they're having on health and the environment or what we can do about it."