91 Properties Will Be Screened for Chemical Warfare Materiel

Almost 100 of D.C.’s most expensive homes will soon be screened for remnants of chemical weapons which were test-fired during World War I, WTOP has learned.  Letters have been sent to 91 homeowners in the Spring Valley neighborhood, providing details of how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will inspect their properties, as part of the decades-long cleanup of the World War I chemical weapons testing site on the grounds of American University.  During World War I, about 661 acres in the Northwest section of D.C. were used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions ... Now, the Corps is finalizing plans to screen almost 100 multimillion-dollar homes in an approximately half-mile swath that were within firing range during World War I, as well as homes near a possible disposal area ...

 91 properties to be screened in ½-mile swath

The Spring Valley cleanup project began in 1993, when a contractor unearthed buried military ordnance on 52nd Court Northwest.  Recently, the cleanup has focused on the property at 4825 Glenbrook Rd. Northwest.  A home that had been built on the site was removed in 2012.  Digging is temporarily halted at the site after seven workers were sickened and temporarily hospitalized in August 2017.  Work on the Glenbrook Road site has included labor-intensive hand-digging.  Workers discovered low levels of Mustard and Lewisite, colorless and odorless compounds, which can cause blistering and lung irritation ...

 New tool can determine if anomalies are [sic] munitions

Participation in the screening of the 91 properties is not mandatory. Homeowners will need to sign permission to allow the government to come onto the property ... Following removal of any remnants, and subsequent testing, the Corps will restore the home’s property to how it was before the screening.  Each property will take about 15 days.  If a property is surveyed, and select anomalies removed, the homeowner will receive a closure letter, which can be shared with a realtor or prospective buyer.  The project’s remedial action phase is expected to start in the next few months, and will take about three years to complete.
Neal Augenstein
WTOP News
March 9, 2018