Nov 16, 2023
Donald Rumsfeld
NPS Does About Face, Vows to Search Park for More Munitions
Good afternoon, Mr. Hengst. In response to your questions, see the following:
Q: When will your agency intrusively investigate the mounds of soil where munitions debris was found on the west side of [Fort Totten] park last spring?
A: This investigation is a high priority for NPS [National Park Service] and the Army. However, we do not have a date yet, as we are still working to identify funding for the investigation. The area has been closed and made safe until that work is undertaken.
Q: Can that investigation include the rest of the original staging area north of the road where the Spring Valley landfill was dumped [pg. 2] in 1992?
A: The investigation is expected to focus on the area north of Farragut Street NE where WMATA conducted staging [pgs. 13 - 14] for the Metrorail Green Line construction. It would also look at areas along the roadway that were disturbed when Holcim (formerly Aggregate Industries) bulldozed along the roadway in early 2023. Further investigations beyond this immediate area will be determined upon the results of this work.
Q: Why doesn’t your agency return to the eastern section of the park for a closer look at land on either side of the narrow foot trail where the 75mm was unearthed in July 2020?
A: An investigation of the area east of the CSX/Metrorail tracks, between Gallatin and Galloway Streets NE, may be considered for a later time. We have requested, and are receiving, information from WMATA about their construction activities in this area. We are also working with the Army on a history of the Fort Totten sites and their uses over time. Our intent is to better understand the work conducted by WMATA, and how construction materials may have been moved around between the sites east and west of the tracks, before we look more closely into an investigation of this area.
Brian Joyner, Acting Superintendent
National Park Service
November 16, 2023
Dear Deputy Superintendent;
I’m writing to inquire on the status of the Park Service’s investigation of World War I-era chemical munitions and laboratory waste buried at Fort Totten National Park. As you know, in addition to a 75mm shell exposed by heavy rains on a foot trail in the eastern arm of the park in July 2020, two additional artillery shells were discovered in mounds of soil along a road inside the western section last April. News media in May reported that discussions of whether a major cleanup might be required in the park were paused due to questions about the contents of a Livens Projector found in one of those mounds. Earlier this week at Tuesday’s public meeting of the Spring Valley FUDS Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), project manager Dan Noble said that — after detecting chlorine in the liquid fill of the century-old artillery shell — the Army Corps sent the Livens to Edgewood Arsenal for further analysis.
Noble reported on a site visit he conducted to inspect the soil mounds before they were stabilized and showed before-and-after photos of the area, which have been posted on the Army's website (pgs. 29 - 33). Noble also described his serendipitous discovery of two additional items as he walked past the mounds: a metal munition fragment and glass beaker lid that were “very similar” to material investigators typically encounter at the FUDS cleanup site in Spring Valley. Regardless of Edgewood’s findings on the specific content of the Livens shell, it’s obvious that more munitions debris and laboratory waste remains buried at Ft. Totten following the 1992 dump of toxic landfill from excavations on Glenbrook Road in Spring Valley ...
Allen Hengst
Email to NPS
October 13, 2023 (pgs. 3 - 4)
WASHINGTON — An area of Fort Totten Park remains closed and fenced, and cement barriers and “no trespassing” signs will remain while the National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Army further investigate the metal canisters, determined to be WW I-era munitions, found there in the spring. Based on investigations to date, the NPS and the Army have determined it is possible Fort Totten Park contains additional munitions. The two metal canisters, found April 18, were discovered in the park after unauthorized work conducted by an adjacent property owner pushed approximately 10 feet of soil onto NPS land. One munition was a 75-mm projectile, approximately 3 inches in diameter and 11 inches long. The other munition was a Livens projectile, approximately 6 inches in diameter and 19 inches long.
The MARB was established in 1995 (US Army)
Initial assessment by Army experts indicated the 75-mm projectile did not pose a hazard and the Livens projectile contained an unknown liquid ... Both items were evaluated by the Army’s Materiel Assessment Review Board (MARB) ... Initial testing of the liquid in the Livens projectile was inconclusive, so it was taken to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood, Maryland, on Aug. 2, for additional testing. The additional testing indicated that the Livens did not pose a hazard ... The NPS and Army are seeking funding to conduct a comprehensive investigation at Fort Totten Park. More information regarding the use of the site during the construction of the Metrorail Greenline can be found here.
Autumn Cook
National Park Service
November 9, 2023
Sep 4, 2023
Appeals Court Panel Rules EPA Must Regulate Perchlorate
In arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, today lawyers for NRDC told a three-judge panel that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision against regulating the toxic chemical perchlorate in drinking water was illegal. The following is a reaction by Erik D. Olson, Senior Strategic Director for Health at NRDC: “Today the court heard why EPA’s refusal to set a drinking water standard for the widespread toxic chemical perchlorate is unlawful and unsupported by science. Doctors and health experts have long called for EPA to protect the public, especially fetuses, infants, and young children, from this brain-damaging toxic chemical. We are hopeful that the court will rule that EPA erred and must move ahead with a perchlorate standard.”
~ Margie Kelly
NRDC
January 27, 2023
Jun 6, 2023
Elected Officials Grapple with Agency Inertia Over Poisoned Park
May 12, 2023
Army Seeks to ID Unknown Liquid in WWI Munition at Fort Totten
The U.S. Army is still trying to identify an unknown liquid found inside one of two World War I-era weapons that were discovered three weeks ago, in Ft. Totten Park, in Northeast D.C., and whether there’s a connection to the chemical weapons found during the decadeslong cleanup of a former chemical weapons site near the American University campus. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [USACE] spokeswoman Cynthia Mitchell told WTOP a 75 mm shell discovered in mound of soil by a National Park Service [NPS] employee was empty, after analysis at Marine Corps Base Quantico. However, “the 6-inch Livens projectile has a liquid fill that will require further analysis,” Mitchell said. A Livens Projector was a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with toxic or flammable chemicals. The weapons were used during World War I, specifically between 1916 through 1918. Livens projectors were encountered often during the Ward 3 Spring Valley cleanup, at the former American University Experiment Station [AUES] used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions — once dubbed the “mother of all toxic dumps” ... Mitchell said the Army is “still analyzing its options for obtaining additional characterization data on the liquid fill within the Livens. That action is complicated by the experimental nature of the work conducted in the 1920s by American University.”
Apr 20, 2023
Two AUES Munitions Discovered on Western Edge of Civil War Fort
Neal Augenstein
People who live around Ft. Totten Park said they weren’t surprised when someone found more mystery items buried beneath the soil there Tuesday afternoon. The National Park Service [NPS] closed part of the park after one of its employees found two metal canisters [sic] in a mound of soil. NPS subsequently urged locals to stay away from cordoned off part of the park east of Fort Totten Drive, south of Gallatin Street, & north of Brookland Avenue NE. Metro trains even bypassed the nearby Ft. Totten station, for more than an hour, as federal authorities conducted their investigation. NPS said the canisters [sic], which appeared to be pushed into the park from the road, will be analyzed by the U.S. Army at Marine Corps Base Quantico ...
This latest discovery comes after NPS found an empty, unfused World War I-era metal canister [sic] in Ft. Totten Park in July 2020. Its discovery prompted locals to push NPS to further examine the park for similar canisters [sic] and possible WWI-era munitions ... Local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Zach Ammerman contacted Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton about the issue. She, in turn, wrote a letter to NPS Director Charles Sams to investigate ordnances and soil and groundwater contamination throughout Ft. Totten Park. She specifically noted she was disappointed NPS only looked at parts of the park around Fort Totten Trail after she requested a “thorough investigation” following a meeting in 2020 with the service, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. “I believe it is imperative that NPS conduct an investigation throughout Ft. Totten Park,” she said. “This park is located in a residential neighborhood and is regularly used” ...
The NPS said the source of the empty canister [sic] found in Ft. Totten Park has still not been determined. However, during a meeting in January 2021, Dan Noble, the USACE’s Spring Valley Project Manager, said [pg. 7] it was possible the Ft. Totten canister [sic] did originate in Upper Northwest: “[D. Noble] explained that USACE inspected and obtained x-rays of the shell,” a meeting transcript reads. “The shell was found to be a 75mm with a hex plug. This type of munition was often found in Spring Valley” ... Ammerman said he wished the issues at Ft. Totten were treated with the same urgency as they were in Spring Valley. “Why can’t we get – I think I know why – just an iota of attention that was given to the other side of D.C. where the richest people in D.C. live, here?” he said ... WUSA-9 reached out to NPS to see if it has any plans to examine the entirety of Ft. Totten Park for munitions, ordinances, or any other types of waste. It said it is working to determine the next steps to evaluate the area and no other additional information on the park is available at this time.
John Henry