Army "Open House" Fields Questions on Proposed Munitions Destruction

Kent Slowinski, Nan Wells, Dan Noble, Lan Reeser & Michael Lent

The Army Corps of Engineers wants to dispose of bombs that could be considered weapons of mass destruction behind Sibley Memorial Hospital, on federal land close to the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to D.C. and parts of Northern Virginia ... In 1917 the Army ... blew up bombs in the fields and forests around the [American University] campus. For decades, as the fields were carved into streets with stately homes, the former use stayed a secret, and toxic chemicals stayed buried. In 1993, construction workers bulldozed up bombs. The corps has been digging up weapons pits and cleaning gardens for 16 years ...

Slowinski and ANC Commissioner Nan Wells ... want deeper investigations into the history and the land. They want a health study, which might lead to more chemicals. They are not sure they want the bombs blown up in the neighborhood. "Why not hold off on destruction until they see if they find more munitions?" Slowinski asks. "They can destroy it all -- at the Naval Research Lab."
Harry Jaffe
Washington Examiner
December 9, 2009

30 Days to Comment on Disposal of Chemical Warfare Materiel

Draft EE/CA (November 2009)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed an evaluation of alternatives [EE/CA] for the disposal of discarded military munitions recovered during investigations at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site ... USACE is in the process of investigating and cleaning up contamination resulting from operations during the World War I era. As a result of recent investigation efforts, a number of munitions were discovered. These include recovered chemical warfare materiel as well as conventional munitions that contain explosives ... This Notice serves as formal notification of the availability of the EE/CA for review, and the commencement of the 30-day public comment period.
Public Notice
Washington Post (November 30, 2009)

Several community activists worry about the safety hazards of exploding such dangerous chemicals near a residential neighborhood. "I think it would be much safer destroying the munitions on a military installation where you have some control of the population, instead of less than 500 feet from a residential neighborhood and less than 1,000 feet from the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which is the District's water supply," said Kent Slowinski ... Alma Gates, a member of the Restoration Advisory Board and a former Palisades advisory neighborhood commissioner, said she is confident in the Army's proposal.
Northwest Current
December 2, 2009: pg. 1

Magnetic Survey Flags Anomalies in Woods behind Sibley Hospital

"Red tulips" bloom on Federal property in Dalecarlia Woods

Geophysical surveys are currently underway on 62 acres of federal and District of Columbia property [in the Dalecarlia Woods on the property of the Washington Aqueduct between Dalecarlia Parkway and the reservoir] ... A report of all anomalies detected will be generated for each subset of Dalecarlia Woods survey grids, followed by Anomaly Review Board (ARB) assessment and intrusive investigation ... The Dalecarlia Woods geophysical survey and intrusive investigations will tentatively require an anticipated time frame of 12 to 14 months until completion.
Restoration Advisory Board, Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2009 (pg, 11)

Railroad May Have Moved Munitions to Caves Dug in Hills Next to Dalecarlia Reservoir

The EPA Criminal Investigation Report states that, "It would have been efficient to load a large volume [$800,000 worth of almost anything in 1918-1920 dollars would be a large volume] onto rail cars. There was a railway on the AU campus at the time which traversed elevation changes, particularly to the northwest. The material could have been taken to the elevation drop and a tunnel dug into the side of a hill. The material placed in this 'cave' would then be further concealed by subsequent fill material placed in the low area" ...


A periodical newsletter called The Retort was published by "the Enemies of Germany" at the AUES Research Division. Edition No 1 dated October 6, 1918, states, "Narrow-Gauge Railway Constructed." Besides an interesting event when a car broke loose and almost smashed into Shack #10, which could have been catastrophic, the story contains several interesting details about the railroad. First, as with the Sgt. Maurer "Hole Called Hades," the railroad had a nickname: it was called the "Death's Valley Limited" or "Hillside Express" ... It also indicates that the railroad was completed on the campus six weeks before the war ended, and that an expansion westward was planned ...

One burial area (side of a hill near a railroad track) has been located: Area Of Interest #2, the Rick Woods Pit or the Relic Hunter's Pit ... In the month that followed October 6, 1918, the railway was extended from the AUES campus. What is now very clear is that it eventually reached the grounds of the Dalecarlia Reservoir. What is equally clear is that this expansion could only have been done for burial purposes.
Richard D. Albright
The Continuing Search for Burial Sites
Cleanup of Chemical & Explosive Munitions

AU President Moving In Next Door to "High Probability" Dig

"Pit 3" is within 96 feet of 4835 Glenbrook Road on right

President Neil Kerwin and his wife are in the process of moving back into their 4835 Glenbrook Rd. home, AU’s Director of Community and Local Government Relations Penny Pagano said during a Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board meeting Tuesday night. The move comes despite an ongoing “high priority” investigation for chemical munitions next door at the Army Corps of Engineers’ “Pit 3” dig ... Because the President’s house lies within the Corps’ established 96-foot safety boundary, anyone staying there will have to be familiar with the Corps’ [shelter-in-place] “public protection plan.” The President’s house is the only structure within the 96-foot circle, said USACE Military Response Program Manager Dan Noble.
Christopher Cottrell
The Eagle ~ October 14, 2009

Workers prepare home in shadow of "Pit 3" investigation

Army Will Reveal List of Recovered Munitions Next Month

Col. David Anderson, Army Corps' Baltimore District

In fulfillment of promises made at a June 10 Congressional oversight hearing, "the Army has lifted a security order concealing a list of World War I-era munitions uncovered in Washington's Spring Valley neighborhood. At a community meeting Tuesday, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the list of recovered munitions would be made public next month. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton brought officials to update residents on the cleanup of chemical munitions from an American University experiment station during World War I. Col. David Anderson, commander of the Army Corps' Baltimore district, says they are still concerned about security but want to be more transparent."
Washington Examiner ~ October 6, 2009

Washington Post Video Offers Glimpse of Geophysical Survey

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been scouring the community and removing munitions and fragments on and off since the 1990s ... Now geophysicists hired by the corps are in Dalecarlia Woods studying the far end of a firing range "fan" that runs 1,550 yards northwest from Herzstein's driveway. There, in the closing months of World War I, the Army fenced in a site where it tested an array of mortars designed to fire chemical weapons, officials said ... The search was recently extended to Dalecarlia Woods, near the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which supplies water to more than a million people in the region.
Washington Post
October 6, 2009: pg B-1