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The Spring Valley information repository was relocated on Monday, Feb. 7 to the Tenley-Friendship Library at 4450 Wisconsin Avenue, NW ... The repository move was initiated at the suggestion of several community members at the January Restoration Advisory Board meeting. RAB and community members noted the Grand Reopening of the library was a well-timed opportunity to bring the repository back to a location closer and more easily accessible to the Spring Valley community ... Librarians at the Tenley-Friendship Library will be able to assist those interested in locating and viewing Spring Valley information repository documents.
The Corps'pondent
February 2011 (pg. 4)
U.S. EPA announced today that it will reverse a George W. Bush-era stance and consider setting new federal drinking water standards for the rocket fuel component perchlorate, linked to thyroid problems and other developmental impediments. The agency determined today that perchlorate presents a public health threat, saying that a proposal is on the way. An August study by the Government Accountability Office found the chemical -- which occurs naturally as well as in man-made form -- across 45 states, in water supplies that are used by between 5 million and 17 million Americans. Speaking just after a testy exchange in which Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) accused EPA of unleashing an "onslaught of job-crushing regulations," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said her agency's eventual rules will be "sensible and practical."
Greenwire
February 2, 2011
California is proposing a tougher target for the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate in drinking water, citing studies that linked minute amounts of the chemical to impaired thyroid function in infants. The current health goal -- for water considered safe for everyone -- is 6 parts perchlorate per billion parts water. On Friday, the state proposed lowering the goal to 1 part per billion ... Perchlorate impedes the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide, needed to make hormones that guide brain and nerve development and regulate metabolism. "Adults may go several days without iodide, which is an essential nutrient, but infants cannot store as much, so they need to have more consistent doses," Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment spokesman Sam Delson said.
Press Enterprise
Riverside, CA
January 9, 2011
"Further planned groundwater study efforts include installation and sampling of the remaining 3 deep wells, quarterly sampling of selected wells for a time frame of 1 year, additional characterization of the perchlorate plume source on the AU campus using 15 temporary wells upgradient of the highest perchlorate concentrations to date, and isotopic analysis of perchlorate ... The 2007 and 2009 perchlorate contours are more complete due to more down-gradient groundwater sampling points, with the highest perchlorate concentrations of 146 ppb and 50 ppb, respectively, located at PZ-4 on the AU campus."
"Quarterly groundwater monitoring will be conducted during the next year to determine whether groundwater perchlorate concentrations change seasonally and whether any significant trends in perchlorate concentrations are associated with specific times of the year ... The temporary wells are specifically designed to pinpoint the location of a potential perchlorate source on the AU campus that requires further investigation. Sampling of these temporary wells may delineate a clear line between high and low perchlorate concentrations."
Todd Beckwith, USACE
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting
January 11, 2011
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to destroy a slew of World War I-era munitions uncovered during a cleanup of a northwest Washington neighborhood beginning next week, officials said Thursday. The Army Corps will use a detonation chamber near Sibley Memorial Hospital in the pricey Spring Valley neighborhood to dispose of about 100 munitions found buried in the yard of a home near American University, said project manager Todd Beckwith. The process begins next week and will cost about $500,000.
Brett Zonger
Associated Press
January 7, 2011 
The main noise that will escape the site is the sound of each individual detonation, which Beckwith likened to a car's backfire lasting a fraction of a second 10 time a day ... [Spring Valley advisory neighborhood commissioner] Nan Wells said she still would have preferred to see the munitions taken out of Spring Valley to be destroyed. "I just think an abundance of caution is appropriate, and nothing is fail-safe that has people involved."
Brady Holt
Northwest Current
January 12, 2011
Behind hospital vapor containment tent (right) awaits CDC
"We were planning to start the controlled detonation chamber operation this week and complete the effort before the holidays. Unfortunately, there was an unanticipated delay in the set up process. When the CDC team was preparing to transport the chamber from Aberdeen Proving Ground to Spring Valley, the hydraulics on the trailer broke ... The project team worked to get a second staging platform ready so the CDC system could be transferred onto it via a crane lift ... With this delay, we will not be able to start CDC operations until after the new year. The new planned start date is January 10."
Todd Beckwith
Spring Valley Project Manager
December 10, 2010
"POI 2" is located behind this house on Fordham Road
USACE clarified that EPA legal assistance was requested to obtain access to a Fordham Road property where a potential disposal pit [Point of Interest 2] may be present ... The Fordham Road property is located adjacent to a Test Trench similar to the Test Trench on 52nd Court where an associated AUES-related disposal pit was recovered. This suggests that a significant public health threat is potentially present ... DDOE will determine whether property access at a 3700 block of Fordham Road property can potentially be obtained under a DC court order via the hazardous waste management act.
Partnering Meeting Minutes
October 26, 2010 (pg. 22)
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The Spring Valley information repository was relocated on Monday, Feb. 7 to the Tenley-Friendship Library at 4450 Wisconsin Avenue, NW ... The repository move was initiated at the suggestion of several community members at the January Restoration Advisory Board meeting. RAB and community members noted the Grand Reopening of the library was a well-timed opportunity to bring the repository back to a location closer and more easily accessible to the Spring Valley community ... Librarians at the Tenley-Friendship Library will be able to assist those interested in locating and viewing Spring Valley information repository documents.
