Public Hearings Cast Doubt on FUDS Cleanup Timetable

At a public roundtable Monday before the DC Council’s Committee on Government Operations and the Environment ... Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh, who chairs the committee, and several community members said they worry the Army will again depart Spring Valley before all the munitions and chemicals are found and removed. In 1995, the Army decided no more work was necessary and left the neighborhood, only to return after the DC Department of Health conducted an independent investigation and found evidence of arsenic and munitions. “There are growing concerns that the Corps will leave before the job is done, just like it did before,” said Tom Smith, a Spring Valley advisory neighborhood commissioner
Northwest Current
May 13, 2009 (pg. 1)

Spring Valley cleanup project managers face grilling

At the request of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Issues and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 10, Rayburn House Office Building in room 2154 at 2pm, on the proposal of the Army Corps of Engineers to conclude its cleanup of chemical weapons, unexploded ordinances and other chemicals in Spring Valley, a Formerly Used Defense Site in Northwest, a neighborhood in the District ... "No information has been submitted to the public or Congress concerning how the Corps has ascertained that the entire site is clear, safe, and without residual health effects," Norton said.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Press Release ~ (June 3, 2009)

Munition Destruction System Will Use Toxic Chemicals to Neutralize Warfare Agents

Explosive Destruction System (EDS)

Sometime in May 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to destroy World War I chemical munitions in Spring Valley, a nice neighborhood and Formerly Used Defense Site in Northwest Washington, DC ... The Army Corps plans to use the Explosive Destruction System or EDS to destroy recovered chemical munitions. The EDS requires large quantities of toxic chemicals to be trucked into the neighborhood to neutralize the chemical warfare agents. Some of the chemicals are as toxic as the chemical warfare agents they neutralize. The EDS also generates a hazardous waste stream (250 - 400 gallons per munition) which must be trucked to a hazardous waste incinerator.

Kent Slowinski
Former member Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board

Economics Department Moves to Kreeger Building in March 2010

The economics department will move to the Kreeger Building, which has remained vacant since the arts and performing arts departments moved to the Katzen Arts Center in 2005. Kreeger is located on the south side of campus, near the Watkins and Hamilton buildings and Jacobs Field ... Kreeger's renovation, which will gut the building, will begin in July and end sometime between December and February 2010.
The Eagle
April 16, 2009

Area behind Kreeger and Hamilton Buildings

In the last 30 days soil on AU property tested for 106,000 parts per million of arsenic, which means approximately 10 percent of the soil is arsenic, but the finding should not pose a threat to the community, said Gary Schilling, Spring Valley project manager for the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The high arsenic levels were found two-and-a-half feet below the surface of the area in question, which is located between the Hamilton and Kreeger buildings, adjacent to the parking lot.
The Eagle
October 12, 2006

Between Jan. 8 and 11, engineers removed 55-gallon barrels of soil within a 55-meter radius of the excavation pit behind the Hamilton and Kreeger buildings. In total, 160 barrels were collected. The barrels have been taken to federal property behind Sibley Hospital where characterization tests will be taken to determine how to dispose of the soil.
The Eagle
January 22, 2001

Coalition Seeks White House Support for Law Holding Military Accountable for Pollution

Letter with Signatures

More than 80 affected communities and organizations from across the U.S. have joined together to support federal legislation that will require the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to comply with laws designed to protect human health and the environment ... Also known as the "Military Environmental Responsibility Act," the bill seeks to eliminate military waivers to key environmental laws ... The Department of Defense is responsible for more than 31,000 cleanup sites on more than 4,600 active and former defense properties. About one in 10 Americans - nearly 29 million - live within 10 miles of a military site that is listed as a national priority for hazardous waste cleanup under the federal Superfund program.
Common Dreams.org
March 23, 2009

Track H.R. 672

University Stonewalls Army Corps Request for World War I Archives

The Documentary Film

At a standing room only, work-in-progress screening of her forthcoming documentary, Academy-award nominated filmmaker Ginny Durrin chronicled sixteen years of uncertainty following discovery of buried chemical munitions in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Washington, DC. During a panel discussion after seeing Bombs In Our Backyard, US Army Corps historian Mark Baker charged that the University was still blocking access to its own "confidential" archives --- records that could shed light on the existence and whereabouts of additional weapon disposal pits.

Charlie Bermpohl & Mark Baker (3/19/09)

"The university sent memos in December of 2008 to individuals who attended classes or worked in areas near the pit three dig, said Bethany Bridgham, the senior associate general counsel in AU's legal office. Nearby buildings included Watkins, Kreeger, Hamilton and Financial Aid. The memo provided details about AU's safety precautions and gave instructions for setting up sealed shelters in the event of a chemical leak. The university has also set up a Web site at american.edu/usace to keep students updated on the status of the investigations. The last updates on the Web site as of press time were from July 14, when the university gave information about an arsenic soil cleanup operation in the area between Hughes and McDowell Halls."

Film Explores WWI Weapons Under AU
The Eagle
March 23, 2009

Hunt for Missing Munitions Moves to Dalecarlia Woods this Summer

Remnants of narrow gauge railway tracked in yellow (above)

In 2002, USACE was notified of a potential AUES-related discovery in Dalecarlia Woods. Rick Woods reported that in 1984, he discovered and removed a pile of approximately 55 munition items in Dalecarlia Woods while looking for Civil War relics. He also reported that glassware was present. In 2005, a site visit was conducted to identify the location of the Rick Woods Area. Rick Woods accompanied the Spring Valley Area of Interest Task Force and identified the site where he thought the munition items were located, using remnants of a narrow gauge railway as a point of reference. This area was designated as AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area).
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2009 (pg. 8)

Upcoming Geophysical Investigation Plans for Dalecarlia Woods

Anomaly removals for the 3 half-acre grids are tentatively scheduled for summer 2009, followed by complete geophysical mapping of the remaining acreage (54.5 acres) and associated anomaly investigations. The geophysical survey will include the locations of AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area) and AOI 6 (Dalecarlia Woods Impact Area) along with buffer areas surrounding the AOIs. T. Beckwith showed a map of the upcoming geophysical survey area, featuring the locations of the [Livens] Range Fan, AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area), AOI 6 (Dalecarlia Woods Impact Area), the 3 half-acre grids surveyed in 2007, and munition items found during the 1994 Zone 9 investigation. 
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2009 (pg. 10)

Tons of Chemical Weapons Scattered Across Ocean Floor

Summary of DOD Sea Disposal of Chemical Warfare Material

The University of Hawai'i yesterday said it has found "hundreds" of munitions on the ocean floor about six miles south of Pearl Harbor, as it continues to use deep-diving submersibles to search for tons of chemical weapons dumped during and after World War II ... 2,558 tons of chemical agents were dumped at three deep-water sites off O'ahu, including lewisite, mustard, cyanogen chloride and cyanide. 

... A towed detection system was used in 2007 to look at 40 square miles of ocean bottom at the site south of Pearl Harbor from about 150 to 200 feet above the sea floor. Rows of "black dots" that appeared were investigated further to identify munitions that were rolled off the sides of barges.

Honolulu Advertiser ~ (March 10, 2009)

Photo courtesy of SAIC/AMTI