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Archives & Special Collections, American University Library
"If you've ever been to the Spring Valley neighborhood in Northwest D.C., you know it's a hop, skip and jump from American University. It's home to television personalities and ambassadors. But almost 100 years ago, Spring Valley was, how shall we say, a little bit different. Okay, more like a lot a bit different. The Army was running a World War I era chemical warfare research station in the area."
WAMU 88.5 FM
Metro Connection
March 18, 2011
Archives & Special Collections, American University Library
The Mary Graydon Center once housed the U.S. government’s largest chemical warfare research lab. The lab, then known as the New Chemical Research building, was part of the U.S. Army’s Chemical Warfare Service branch ... A local newspaper, the Baltimore Evening Star, visited the campus in 1918. “Gas and flame fighting is a new wrinkle in the American Army, but the ‘Hell Fire Battalion' has taken to it as the duck takes to water,” the Evening Star wrote. “It offers more possibilities of adventure and action than any other branch of the service” ...
But, according to one Army engineer, what the “Hell Fire Battalion” left behind at AU was even more deadly than the Germans’ chemical weapons.
Sylvia Carignan
The Eagle
March 14, 2011
Since May 2001, the US Army Corps of Engineers has hosted monthly meetings of the Spring Valley cleanup "partners" at its trailer-office on the federal property behind Sibley Hospital. This august body — including representatives from the EPA, DC Department of the Environment, American University, the Restoration Advisory Board and local elected officials — learned last November that the level of arsenic contamination outside the conference trailer measures 124 ppm, over six times the safety limit for the Spring Valley FUDS.
Blog Editor
WMD in DC 
Arsenic removal for 4 contaminated grids along the federal property fence near the guard shack is tentatively scheduled for early 2011. Of these grids, 2 exceed the 43 ppm cleanup goal with concentrations of 58 ppm and 124 ppm arsenic ... USACE requested that arsenic grids on federal property with concentrations below 43 ppm be left in place, including 2 of the grids mentioned above as well as arsenic grids within the Dalecarlia Woods. USACE noted that the 43 ppm cleanup level is considered to be protective of human health on residential properties [instead of the 20 ppm standard], only if property access or landscaping issues interfere with soil removal. Although the presence of a fence and berm do not significantly interfere with removal of these grids, the 43 ppm cleanup level may be acceptable for grids on federal property.
Spring Valley Partners
Meeting Minutes
November 30, 2010 (pg. 14)
In April 1917, just days after the United States declared war on Germany, AU’s president wrote a letter to the White House. “To his Excellency, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States,” AU President Benjamin Leighton wrote. “I am authorized to extend to the United States Government the use of 92 acres of land lying within the District and composing the campus of the University … for such purpose as the Government may desire."
... While AU provided housing for thousands of soldiers, its academics suffered. University lectures, which were open to the public, were “reduced to a minimum,” The Courier wrote. “Sentinels challenge every person who enters the grounds and buildings; even the officers of the University must show their passes.” Though the University’s academic research faltered, research on chemical weapons began to thrive on the campus grounds.
Sylvia Carignan
The Eagle
February 28, 2011
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
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Archives & Special Collections, American University Library
Archives & Special Collections, American University Library 
Since May 2001, the US Army Corps of Engineers has hosted monthly meetings of the Spring Valley cleanup "partners" at its trailer-office on the federal property behind Sibley Hospital. This august body — including representatives from the EPA, DC Department of the Environment, American University, the Restoration Advisory Board and local elected officials — learned last November that the level of arsenic contamination outside the conference trailer measures 124 ppm, over six times the safety limit for the Spring Valley FUDS.
Arsenic removal for 4 contaminated grids along the federal property fence near the guard shack is tentatively scheduled for early 2011. Of these grids, 2 exceed the 43 ppm cleanup goal with concentrations of 58 ppm and 124 ppm arsenic ... USACE requested that arsenic grids on federal property with concentrations below 43 ppm be left in place, including 2 of the grids mentioned above as well as arsenic grids within the Dalecarlia Woods. USACE noted that the 43 ppm cleanup level is considered to be protective of human health on residential properties [instead of the 20 ppm standard], only if property access or landscaping issues interfere with soil removal. Although the presence of a fence and berm do not significantly interfere with removal of these grids, the 43 ppm cleanup level may be acceptable for grids on federal property.
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.
During World War I, a sixty-two acre section of Dalecarlia Woods next to Washington DC's reservoir was the impact area (AOI 6) for Livens projectiles fired from the American University Experiment Station one mile to the east, as well as the location of a munitions burial pit (AOI 2) alongside a narrow gauge railway line that once extended there from AU.
North perimeter fence of federal property
North side of initial 18-acre intrusive investigation
