"Missing" Workers Identify More Hazards at 4835 Glenbrook Road

A recent [Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry] report reached few strong conclusions about the health risks to residents and construction workers at 4825 Glenbrook Road NW, which was severely contaminated by chemical munitions left over from a World War I-era Army testing facility at American University.  But when the federal team behind the report presented their limited findings at last Tuesday’s Restoration Advisory Board meeting, the audience included three of those workers who built the house at the Spring Valley property — workers whom the researchers had been unable to reach.  Interviewed after the meeting, the three said they suffered fairly serious health problems while working at the site, and that they believe the worst contamination also affects the American University president’s house next door at 4835 Glenbrook.  “There’s all kinds of stuff under it, stuff that could explode under you,” one worker said ...  

 

Researchers were unable to get any specific information from the workers other than transcripts of past interviews with Ginny Durrin, a Spring Valley filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the testing and the decades-long cleanup project.  In those transcripts, the workers express grave concerns about 4835 Glenbrook.  They alleged that contaminated soil ... and suspicious items were covered over with a layer of concrete.  Army Corps spokesperson Christopher Gardner said investigators did thoroughly check 4835 in 2007 and 2008.
Northwest Current
May 18, 2016