Park Service Colludes in Covering Up Spring Valley's Darkest Secret

A World War I-era unexploded shell discovered in July 2020 by the National Park Service during construction of a trail through Northeast D.C.’s Fort Totten could be a prequel to the decades-long cleanup of a former World War I chemical weapons site near American University’s campus.  The type of weapon recovered and the history of where it was recovered have suggested a link between the discovery in Ward 5’s Ft. Totten and Ward 3’s 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.”  In response to WTOP’s reporting, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said she will be calling a joint meeting of the park service, the Army Corps of Engineers [USACE] and Metro to discuss the issue of the chemical weapon and what should be done about it ... A closer look at the empty shell found in Ft. Totten — one of seven Northeast D.C. forts used by the Union Army to defend the nation’s capital during the Civil War — revealed it had been modified for use as a chemical weapon.  “When we looked at the X-rays, it was a 75-millimeter ordnance item that we encounter quite a bit at Spring Valley,” said Dan Noble, of the USACE, and project manager for the ongoing Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site project. 

Soldiers train at AUES in 1917 (LOC)

“It had a hex plug burster adapter screwed into the nose of the projectile,” Noble told WTOP.  “It would convert what was developed as a conventional munition into a chemical munition” ... Even before a contractor digging a utility trench in Spring Valley in 1993 uncovered a buried military ordnance, which prompted the USACE investigation that revealed homes on Glenbrook Road were built atop chemical weapon burial pits, contaminated soil from Glenbrook Rd. was trucked to a landscaping project at Ft. Totten Metro station ... In 1992, the heavy equipment operator spreading Glenbrook Road soil at the Fort Totten Metro site felt sickened from the fumes of the soil, and the U.S. Park Service [NPS] ordered it be removed, Noble told [pg. 13] the Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board ... Allen Hengst, who has been blogging about the issue for the last 15 years, said he thinks the contaminated soil was moved from the Ft. Totten Metro site a few hundred yards away to the area where the trail is being constructed.  Hengst said he believes the NPS search after the 2020 discovery was perfunctory, and limited to the immediate trail area in Ft. Totten.  Hengst suggests a wider search would likely uncover more chemical remnants from the Spring Valley site.  It’s not clear any more physical investigation will be done.

Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

February 9, 2022

Norton demands joint meeting with agencies

 

ANC Seeks 'thorough' Investigation
Of Toxic 1992 Dumping at Ft. Totten

 The possible link between an empty World War I shell, discovered in 2020 during construction of a trail through Ft. Totten Park, and the massive Spring Valley cleanup of chemical weapons has the local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner seeking a “thorough investigation.”  Gordon-Andrew Fletcher, ANC Commissioner 5A-08, represents the area where the NPS discovered a World War I-era unexploded shell during construction of a paved, lit trail through wooded parkland that will replace  an informal path neighbors in Michigan Park used to get to the Fort Totten Metro station in Northeast D.C.   ... Fletcher said:  “I do commend Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for calling for a meeting with all necessary stakeholders, because this is an environmental safety issue.”  

ANC Commissioner Fletcher

In response to WTOP’s reporting that the empty 75mm shell discovered by the NPS had been modified for use as a chemical weapon and that contaminated soil from the Spring Valley cleanup had been trucked to Ft. Totten in 1992, Norton said she would call for a joint meeting of the NPS, the USACE, Metro and council members and ANC from Wards 5 and 3.  “I think we have to make sure we do a thorough search, a thorough investigation, to make sure that there’s nothing there, for years to come,” said Fletcher, who is also a candidate in the upcoming primary for Ward 5 council seat ... “The NPS investigation of the trail site at Ft. Totten did not reveal any additional shells or concerns for the health or safety of the community,” said [NPS spokesperson Cynthia] Hernandez ... “Ward 5 already has many environmental safety concerns due to air pollution and leaking underground storage tanks,” said Fletcher, noting that residents in the Brentwood neighborhood have filed suit against Mayor Muriel Bowser to stop the District from building a bus depot.   While a lengthy investigation would likely slow construction of the long-awaited path, Fletcher prioritizes safety. 

Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

February 10, 2022