.jpg)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers abruptly stopped its chemical munitions dig at a Spring Valley home on Monday after unearthing an artillery shell that may be both explosive and armed with a deadly chemical ... An Army Corps official said Tuesday that the discovery of the shell, which occurred on November 19, could force the Corps to revise its safety plan for the neighborhood..jpg)
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, acting out of caution at a time of war and terror attacks, will not publicly reveal the locations or nature of chemicals and munitions found at a Spring Valley site now undergoing digging operations in a search for World War I ordnance."
Daiva MacKenzie, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she was in the lobby of Anderson Hall when the siren sounded around 4:05 p.m. but could not hear it. "But I knew it went off," she said. "I hope something will be done so that we would be able to hear it, especially if we are supposed to be in the building when it goes off."
Shelter-In-Place Zone Map
Operating under tight safety restrictions, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers yesterday began excavating what it calls the "last known burial pit" of World War I chemical munitions in Northwest Washington's Spring Valley neighborhood. The Army expects to excavate at least fifteen 75mm artillery rounds -- a dozen or more with mustard gas and three with arsine, both toxic chemical agents -- buried in the affluent residential neighborhood that was once a site for developing and testing chemical weapons ... Washington Post (October 30, 2007: pg. B-1)
