4 of 92 Spring Valley Homeowners Still Resist Cleanup Investigation

The Remedial Action progress map for the 92 residential properties and 13 Federal/City lots [on slide #12 of the presentation] shows: 1) properties with no color and highlighted with blue borders indicate residential properties and city lots that have been completed; 2) properties shown in green indicate properties that have active contact and are undergoing the RA clean-up process; 3) properties shown in blue indicate properties where efforts are being made to engage the properties but have not yet reached a firm commitment.  To date, four properties remain unclear whether access will be given ...

Cleanup at 4 properties "remains unclear" (pg. 12)

[Project manager] Dan Noble explained that since the properties are private properties, the only option that USACE has is to explain to the homeowners that the remedial effort is worthwhile.  From USACE’s perspective, the goal is to remediate the four areas associated with the former American University Experiment Station (AUES) testing activities ... In any one of the remaining areas where a property owner has declined, the coverage might still be sufficient for the Partners to determine that the issues in those areas have been addressed ... Noble explained that if a property owner declines remediation activities on their property, that property owner will not receive a property-specific assurance letter. 
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Minutes
November 10, 2020 (pg. 4 - 5)

Explosive Stokes Mortar Round Unearthed on Quebec Street

During intrusive investigations on September 16, the team encountered an intact 3-inch Stokes mortar round on Quebec Street within Area of Interest (AOI) 13.  The Army Corps’ ordnance and explosives safety specialist and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit from Joint Base Andrews responded to the site.  The item was x-rayed in place, examined, and safely transported offsite by the EOD unit for disposal.  The item was destroyed on the range the same day.  Based on observations of the explosion during disposal, the EOD unit reported that the 3” Stokes mortar contained 2½ pounds of high explosive (HE) filler.  Due to the HE filler, the item was determined to be a munitions and explosives of concern (MEC) item ... Noble explained that the item was located one foot down ... This property was part of the previous remedial investigation in 2006 ...

3-inch Stokes mortar found on Quebec Street (pg. 14)

During the previous remedial investigation, the teams were not removing vegetation for anomaly investigation, only investigating open areas.  The Stokes mortar was located in the footprint of a large mature rhododendron.  During the current remedial action, the homeowner allowed the removal of the rhododendron to scan the ground underneath that had not been previously investigated ... In this case, the Stokes mortar contained a high explosive fill, so there was detonation potential associated with the item ... Based on where the item was found, in AOI 13 bordering the AU campus and the former experiment station, it is likely that the Stokes mortar was not fired.  The item was not found in an impact area.  The item may have been a munition brought in to be worked on and discarded in the area for some reason.  The item was most likely a discarded military munition, rather than UXO [unexploded ordnance].
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Minutes
November 10, 2020 (pg. 6 - 7)

Munitions & Lab Debris Extend North Beyond PSB Footprint

After resuming field work at American University’s former Public Safety Building in July, the team began digging test pits at the site in order to determine the final excavation boundaries, as well as to conduct confirmation soil sampling ... The team continues to encounter lab grade glassware debris and have followed it into the northern hillside edge of the former PSB footprint.  Through further investigation the debris appears to extend outside of the northwestern footprint and near the existing sump.  The team has prepared work plans and is evaluating the removal of the debris trail into the hillside.  The uncovered material in the test pit sidewall was screened for munition debris and AU items.  The batch glass and metal debris cleared headspace analysis and was shipped for confirmation analysis.  The concrete sump structure was broken down into smaller pieces loaded into a roll-off container, and transported to the staging area at the federal compound pending off-site disposal.
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Slides
September 15, 2020 (pgs. 15 - 16)

Debris chased 8 ft. north of PSB slab (pg. 20)

Conducted test pitting horizontally into the north sidewall of PSB excavation (grid D-3) to determine the extent of the dark soil layer with American University Experiment Station debris identified at approximately 2 to 3.5 feet below the slab.  Advanced 8 feet north of former PSB slab –  AUES debris was still evident, but Team had to stop due to slope stability concerns ... The bulk of the dark brown soil with abundant AUES glass debris and munition debris has been excavated and removed from below the slab, however, the AUES debris field encountered at 1 - 4 feet below the slab extends north beyond the slab into the soil slope – an as yet undetermined distance ... The AUES debris layer contained dark brown soil, abundant unsealed lab glassware bottles, pipettes & tubes, plus munitions debris from 75-mm projectiles and 4” Stokes mortar rounds.
Spring Valley FUDS
Partnering Meeting
August 2020 (pgs. 22 - 33)

AUES lab & munition debris encountered (pg. 32)

Some Homeowners Now Reluctant to Allow Intrusive Investigations

The Site-Wide geophysical surveys and intrusive anomaly investigations at the private residences has continued without delays from COVID-19 prevention measure ... To date, 60 out of the 92 total homes have been intrusively investigated.  The team is noticing more logistical difficulties with obtaining the approval of landscape plans by the property owners to allow geophysical surveys to begin.  There may be a small group of properties at the end of the project that will be very difficult, if at all possible, to obtain approval to complete remedial activity [RA] ... The remaining groups of properties include more reluctant homeowners that are either selling their homes, are new home owners, or are reluctant to begin the intrusive investigation at this time ... USACE Baltimore explained that the team is meeting resistance because, until now, the teams have been working with the groups of homeowners that were eager to complete the remedial action as soon as possible. 

Status of intrusive residential investigations (pg. 15)

Those homeowners were prioritized into the first groups of properties that were intrusively investigated.  Now that those groups of properties have been completed, USACE Baltimore is reaching out to the homeowners that did not volunteer ... Some of the remaining homeowners are not convinced that there is a risk or believe that the intrusive investigation may increase any existing small risk ... At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 5 - 6 homeowners were willing to allow the work but due to concerns about COVID-19, they do not want extra people on their property ... The Outreach Team is developing different ways to explain the effort to homeowners during the pandemic.  Several homeowners who we have completed RA work with have volunteered to speak about their experience participating in the project to reluctant homeowners.  USACE Baltimore expects to complete remedial activity at 70 properties with few issues, but the possibility of completing remedial activity at the last 22 is unclear at this time.
Spring Valley FUDS
Partnering Meeting Minutes
July 16, 2020 (pg. 3 - 4)

Defying Science, Decree & Law: EPA Won't Set Perchlorate DWS

In an extraordinary decision, President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Andrew Wheeler has decided to defy a court-ordered consent decree requiring the agency to issue a drinking water standard for the widespread contaminant perchlorate.  Studies show this chemical poses threats to the brain development of fetuses and young infants and has been found in millions of Americans’ tap water.  The decision, which not only ignores the science but violates a court order and the law, is expected to be announced publicly in coming weeks.  Perchlorate is a component of rocket fuel, munitions, and fireworks that the Obama EPA determined in 2011 requires regulation because of the health threat it poses to the drinking water of as many as 16 million Americans ... Because perchlorate threatens the health of fetuses, infants, and young children especially, the American Academy of Pediatrics, multiple independent scientists, and many states (as discussed below) have weighed in, urging EPA to set a strict standard for perchlorate in drinking water.  They have been ignored by Wheeler ... The Obama EPA found in 2011 that a perchlorate drinking water standard was needed to protect health, especially that of vulnerable fetuses and young children.  This finding triggered a legal duty to regulate perchlorate.  

When EPA was slow to issue standards after that finding, NRDC sued, and a federal judge hearing the case said that EPA needs “a fire lit under them” to address the urgent problem.  In response, the agency agreed in a court-approved consent decree to propose a perchlorate drinking water standard by October 2018 and to finalize it by late 2019.  EPA sought extensions, citing the need for more study, so the standard is now due in June 2020.  In an astonishing step, Wheeler is purporting to revoke the agency’s 2011 finding that a perchlorate standard is needed to protect the health of millions of Americans, especially fetuses, infants, and young children.  EPA therefore will not comply with the court-ordered consent decree requiring a final drinking water standard for perchlorate by June 2020 and will not comply with the legal requirement to set a standard once it has formally determined that one is necessary ... When EPA was first considering establishing a drinking water standard for perchlorate in the early 2000s, documents NRDC obtained through litigation under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that the DOD and its contractors mobilized a massive campaign to stop the agency from moving forward.
Erik D. Olson 
Natural Resources Defense Council
May 14, 2020

Wheeler won't impose perchlorate limits to protect health.

The country's primary government agency in charge of protecting human health and the environment is choosing NOT to regulate a chemical called perchlorate in drinking water.  While an official decision hasn't been published yet, this week it was reported that Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the EPA, decided the agency will not impose limits on perchlorate to protect human health.  The agency was required to establish drinking water standards for the chemical by next month.  To be clear, everyone reading this article almost certainly has perchlorate in their bloodstream.  Perhaps more importantly, perchlorate is even found in amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood, so fetuses are being exposed.  If we are all exposed, then why would the EPA choose not to regulate it unless it is safe? ... Perchlorate can interfere with normal brain development in our children ... The right amount of thyroid hormone is essential for the human brain to develop properly.  This is true from early on in the first trimester of pregnancy well into the second year of childhood.  Perchlorate can block the ability of our thyroid glands to get enough iodine to make the proper amount of thyroid hormone.  So, perchlorate is most certainly hazardous ... 

Most of the environmental perchlorate we are exposed to is man-made.  It is both easy and cheap to make and it is used primarily as an ingredient in explosives.  Fireworks, air-bags, rocket fuel, ammunition are all important sources of perchlorate.  Over many decades of careless disposal, many parts of the country have become heavily contaminated — to the extent that major river systems have measurable levels of perchlorate.  Much of this contamination has come from military installations — the Department of Defense.  And, using your tax dollars, they have fought hard to avoid having to clean it up (again with your tax dollars) ... When the EPA first performed a risk assessment on perchlorate in the 1990s, they initially proposed a safe level in drinking water to be one microgram per liter of water.  This is about a drop of water in an Olympic size pool. Massachusetts, for example, currently has a drinking water standard of two micrograms per liter.  So, the most important federal agency charged with protecting human health and the environment has "evolved" from a health protective proposal to no regulation at all.
R. Thomas Zoeller
Environmental Health News
May 18, 2020

Huge Cache of MD + Lab Waste Found Under Public Safety Bldg.

Lab waste dug from under PSB foundation (pg. 14)

The objective of the Public Safety Building (PSB) project is to excavate the soil underneath the footprint of the former PSB, an area of approximately 30 x 60 feet.  Past investigative and removal efforts have been conducted around the former building.  At that time, it was determined that the Munitions debris (MD) likely continued underneath the building.  The Site-Wide Decision Document included a directive that, if American University were to demolish the building, USACE Baltimore would remove the foundation and slab and conduct excavations underneath the slab to depths required to ensure that all American University Experiment Station (AUES)-related debris has been removed from AU campus ... The small ceramic jug marked Mercury is similar to jugs found during previous excavations at the PSB.  The rest of the recovered laboratory items are broken pieces of glassware.  Occasionally, an intact bottle is found, but none of these bottles were stoppered or sealed ... MD recovered to date includes:
   - Opened Livens Mk1 incendiary projectile
    - Expended M2 hand grenade; UXO technicians found and identified 2 pieces that would have formed an M2 hand grenade
    - Projectile nose cones
    - A 75mm projectile; the 75mm projectile is the most common munition found at Spring Valley
    - Booster tube; a long booster tube, likely for a Livens projectile ... The booster would have a delayed explosive charge in it that would have allowed the Livens to open up on detonation and spread the contents around the target area.
    - Bomb fins; bomb fins have been found previously at the PSB
    - Nose cone-type fuze
    - Bomb assembly items
    - A 4-inch Stokes mortar nose; the AUES utilized both the 3-inch and 4-inch Stokes mortar.  Encountering a 4-inch Stokes mortar item is unusual in Spring Valley.
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Minutes

March 10, 2020 (pgs. 6 - 9) 

MD dug from under PSB foundation (pg. 16)

Despite Bottles, PSB Dig Remains "low probability" Thus Far

Brenda Barber [USACE]: During soil removal activities, two intact glass bottles were encountered in the soil around the former Public Safety Building on December 3rd and work was paused immediately.  One of the glass bottles was unsealed and the other was sealed with a stopper.  No stained soils or unusual odors were observed in the area where the bottles were found.  The glassware was secured and sent to Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) for analysis after the glassware cleared headspace analysis at the Federal Property. The glassware was determined to be non-hazardous and cleared for agent ... Barber confirmed that the glass bottles were found in the upslope.  All encountered items are tracked, and the team will present that information to the Partners to determine if the excavation limits need to be expanded ... [Barber] explained that the glass bottles were found in the final bench, a couple feet from the foundation; not significantly outside the limits of the excavation, but adjacent to the former footprint of the PSB.
Spring Valley RAB 
Meeting Minutes
January 14, 2020 (pg. 6)

Glass bottles were found in soil at former PSB on Dec. 3 (USACE)

In response to a question from DOEE [District Department of Energy & Environment], Weston Solutions and USACE Baltimore explained that if an item or substance is found that violates the low probability determination, then work would stop and the path forward would be discussed ... If the team determines that the probability must be elevated to high probability, then a new contract would be necessary.  Currently, the project is not set up for high probability work, and a new contractor that is prepared to perform a high probability action would need to be found.  Many years ago, a small amount of chemical agent was found in Lot 18, but since that time tons of debris and contaminated soil have been removed, and none of the contamination has been agent.  A piece of Munitions & Explosives of Concern (MEC) was found at the former PSB in the past, but the project was determined to be low probability going forward.  Over 100 pieces of munitions debris have been found near the former PSB and in Lot 18, but the single item was the only item that qualified as MEC.  The MEC item was a burster that was torn open and the high explosive was visible inside. 
Spring Valley FUDS Partners
Meeting Minutes
December 5, 2019 (pgs. 7 - 8)