Feb 11, 2019

Army to Mail 'Munition Education' Brochures Across Spring Valley

Ensuring the community remains informed about the past military use of the area encompassed by the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site [FUDS] is part of the overall Site-Wide recommendations developed to reduce risks to members of the community.  That means that in addition to the cleanup activities, like removal of contaminated soils and investigations to find and remove potential buried munitions, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will also promote munition education and awareness in order to further reduce risks in the event a munition item is encountered.  This will be through letters and brochures sent to all residents and institutions within the boundary of the Spring Valley FUDS once a year.  They will include information about the 3Rs (Recognize, Retreat & Report) of explosives safety.
The Corps'pondent
December 2018 (pg. 1)
USACE Baltimore will engage with the community and conduct a continuing education program indefinitely ... Mailings will be sent to the community once a year in the spring with information about the boundaries of the FUDS, the potential possibility that a munition could be encountered, and instruction on what to do if a munition is found.  The Department of Defense 3Rs explosive safety brochure has been customized for the Spring Valley site to include site-specific background information and photos of munitions found in Spring Valley from the WWI era ... The draft mailing documents have been reviewed by DOEE and EPA; no comments were submitted by the regulators.  [Project Mgr. Dan] Noble invited the RAB to review the two draft mailing documents and submit comments by the next RAB meeting in early March. 
USACE expects to address any comments and send out the first mailing at the end of March ... USACE must then inform and remind the public that the residual risk of finding munitions is an ongoing possibility in the area and what to do if a munition is found ... Noble explained that over the years there have been instances of what is termed "Amnesty Rounds," munitions that people have found, picked up, moved, and left in an obvious place for someone to find, instead of contacting 911.  Sometimes the munitions have been anonymously brought directly to USACE.  Munitions have been left at the USACE gate at the Federal Property; one was left out on the sidewalk on Nebraska Avenue alongside the AU Campus.  Finding a munition can happen anywhere.
Spring Valley FUDS 
RAB Meeting Minutes 
January 8, 2019 (pgs. 9 -11)   

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