Army Will Compare University Plume, Sibley Hospital Perchlorate

In order to determine whether the two perchlorate plumes (at AU and Sibley) originated from the same source, USACE is collecting and will be analyzing perchlorate samples using isotopic analysis. In March a perchlorate sample was collected on the AU campus from an existing well [PZ-4] where elevated levels of perchlorate have previously been detected.

 Site-wide groundwater sampling results (2012)

A perchlorate sample will also be collected near Sibley Memorial Hospital in April 2012. Perchlorate is comprised of chlorine and oxygen, and specific isotope ratios of these elements can reveal information about the perchlorate source. This effort involves continuous groundwater pumping and filtration at each location for several days to separate and collect a sufficient amount of perchlorate that can then be analyzed.
Spring Valley FUDS Project Summary
March 2012

Anomaly Investigation Yields Cultural Debris, No Munitions

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continued its search for buried WWI-era military materials on AU's campus over spring break, but this latest effort in the 19-year investigation yielded no results ... The Corps also dug four trenches in the Kreeger parking lot and roadway to investigate whether "anomalies," or metallic objects previously used by the Army, were buried there ...

No anomalies were found, only construction debris and litter such as Coke bottles, according to the Spring Valley Community Outreach Team. After the investigations, the trenches were repaved, and the Kreeger parking lot was reopened for use. The entire process took place over spring break, as requested by AU, to reduce any disruptions for students.
Ryan Migeed
The Eagle
April 10, 2012 (pg. 5)

2.5-Acre Kreeger Area Anomaly Investigation

Fordham Road Holdout at Possible Burial Pit Still Thwarting Cleanup

Project manager Dan Noble reported that he has been unable to gain access to a home in the 3700 block of Fordham Road, where he suspects there might be another burial pit of potentially dangerous chemicals ... Old photos of the site show a series of trenches in other areas that led to burial pits. There is also a 1918 aerial photo showing a scar on the ground that looks similar to scars where other buried munitions have been found.
   
Noble said Army headquarters will make a decision as to whether to take legal action to gain admission to the property, depending on the danger it might pose to the neighbors and the general community ... Four readings taken at the site had arsenic counts greater than 20 parts per million -- the agreed-upon safe limit -- and "one as high as 107."
Northwest Current
March 21, 2012 (pg. 4) Sedgwick Trench below & left of 52nd Court Trench

Identified as the Sedgwick Trench.  The Army performed extensive field testing of chemical warfare agents such as mustard, phosgene, chloropicrin, and cyanogen chloride at this site.  The Sedgwick Trench is comprised of circular trenches approximately 200 feet in diameter.  Livens and 75 millimeter shells with agent were statically fired in the center of the circular trenches.

Description of Points of Interest

Spring Valley FUDS

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

RAB Member Insists $230 Million Cleanup "Not Worth the Money"

Now, the cleanup of what was known as the American University Experiment Station is nearing a crucial point. This spring, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to tear down a house that may be atop a lost burial pit that an Army sergeant called “Hades” in a grainy 1918 photograph. That photograph ... has provided the surest clue to the pit’s location, which has been one of the most elusive mysteries in the nearly 20-year cleanup ...

More than 1,600 properties have been tested for arsenic, and the Army has removed tons of tainted soil, destroyed more than 1,000 munitions and carted off intact bottles of chemicals ... “What’s the risk to any of us in this community?” asked Dr. Lee H. Monsein, a radiologist who sits on the project advisory board. “Very, very low. What’s the cost to remove that risk, or mitigate that risk? Very, very expensive. Is it worth the money? Absolutely not."

The exact location of the Maurer pit, as it is known, has remained a question. The corps believes, based on the photograph and other evidence, that a home next to the ambassador’s was built atop the pit, which may have been disturbed or even removed during construction ... Still, doubters remain. Kent Slowinski, a landscaper who grew up in the neighborhood and remains one of the corps’ most outspoken critics, believes the pit is higher on the hillside. “We keep finding out one thing after another where the Army corps says one thing and it turns out not to be true, and the situation turns out to be much worse than what they told us,” he said.
Theo Emery
New York Times
March 18, 2012 (pg. A-17)

Feds Spent $75,000 to Examine Glenbrook Road Health Concerns

Recently, ATSDR [Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry] began preparing a health consultation focused specifically on the 4825 Glenbrook Road site. This document is being prepared ... to assess possible health concerns for the construction workers who built the house and the family who lived in the house. A total of $75,000 was allocated by USACE Headquarters for the 4825 Glenbrook Road health consultation in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and FY 2012 ...


The Army Corps felt that contamination identified during high probability test pit investigations between November 2009 and March 2010 could be related to descriptions of anecdotal construction worker exposures at the 4825 Glenbrook Road site. Findings that corroborated with these anecdotal reports included chemical agent in soil and intact AUES-related glassware containing chemicals such as arsenic trichloride. These findings were unique compared to data generated previously at the site, including the Pit 3 area, and at other burial pits in Spring Valley.


Jim Sweeney, District Department of the Environment, clarified that he has not seen the draft document. The draft ATSDR report was reviewed by DDOE’s Public Information Office, and he has not seen the draft report or the comments provided by his agency. DDOE will hopefully have the opportunity to review the rewritten draft final report.

Nan Wells, ANC-3D Commissioner: Was a technical review conducted by the Public Information Office?
J. Sweeney was not familiar with the degree of technical involvement during the draft report review.
RAB Meeting Minutes
January 10, 2012 (pgs. 9 - 13)

Army Corps' Evolving Assessment of Pit's Likely Location Roils RAB

On the university campus, investigations will continue next month during students’ spring break, according to [project manager Dan] Noble. Cleanup crews will be looking at four spots on the Kreeger Hall roadway and parking lot ... The university-owned property at 4825 Glenbrook Road remains a topic of scrutiny. Noble said the Army Corps remains confident the property was a major burial pit for jars of mustard agent and other war debris, based on a 1918 photograph of a Sgt. Maurer along with aerial photographs from the same year. But Allen Hengst, a longtime critic of the cleanup effort who works at the university, said his own studies show that the “Sgt. Maurer Pit” is more likely across from the university’s Watkins Building.
Northwest Current
February 22, 2012 (pg. 7)

Investigative trench in Kreeger Roadway on AU campus (USACE)

USACE feels that the geo-referenced locations of the three possible burial pits, as outlined in the 2000 EPIC report, may have suffered from splicing errors ... The December 2000 EPIC report conclusion that "Site 3' is the most likely location for POI 24 is no longer considered the best assessment for the location of POI 24 ... USACE is not denying that the EPIC report identified ‘Site 3’ as situated on the AU campus, but based on further analysis of geo-referencing discrepancies, USACE believes that there is doubt regarding the EPIC report’s 2000 conclusions.

... [Project Manager Dan] Noble confirmed that part of the area containing the possible pit locations outlined in the December 2000 EPA EPIC Terrestrial Photogrammetry Report is currently under investigation as part of the 2.5-acre AU Kreeger Hall area anomaly investigation. A total of 4 trenches will be dug in March 2012, with the goal of investigating large anomalous areas identified during geophysical data review. This effort will provide further evidence as to whether another disposal pit is present. As mentioned at the January 2012 RAB meeting, these trenches are located very close to, if not co-located with, T. Slonecker’s estimated burial pit locations.
RAB Meeting Minutes
February 14, 2012 (pgs. 10 -14)
Background: The EPA Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) reviewed several historical aerial photographs of the Spring Valley area. The USACE and regulatory partners at EPA and D.C. Health (now DDOE) reviewed the results of EPIC's work, and based on this information, decided to investigate the property adjacent to a property where two burial pits were removed between March 1999 and March 2000.
4825 Glenbrook Road News
USACE Web Site

Trench Digging in Four Anomalous Areas Near Kreeger Set for March

We’re looking for buried metallic objects we call anomalies,” said Clem Gaines, public affairs specialist at the Army Corps of Engineers in Baltimore. The Army Corps used metal detectors to find burial sites where the Army discarded materials used when AU was an “experimental station,” Gaines said ... The Army Corps still needs to dig under the Kreeger parking lot in four different locations. The Army Corps is waiting until spring break to continue digging, Gaines said.
Ryan Migeed
The Eagle
February 7, 2012 (pg. 8)
In January, field teams intrusively investigated 18 single-point anomalies in the American University (AU) Kreeger Hall area. No WWI-related items were recovered. All the anomalies were classified as cultural debris, such as scrap metal and construction debris. Trench digging within the 4 anomalous areas in the paved area near Kreeger Hall is tentatively scheduled for March 2012. Because this effort will require removal of small portions of the Kreeger Hall parking lot, the investigation is scheduled during AU’s Spring break to minimize potential disruptions to campus life.
Spring Valley FUDS Project Summary
January 2012