Pentagon Accused of Retaliation Over Base Cleanup Requests

Formerly Used Defense Sites

Congress gives the Pentagon about $30 million annually to dispense to states with contaminated military bases, to help pay the states' costs to oversee cleanup of those sites. But in 2006, the Pentagon began telling some states they would no longer receive money for various oversight activities and would lose all of the money if they took enforcement action.
Washington Post ~ (September 19, 2008: pg. A-2)

Testing gas masks at Camp AU (1918) ~ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Repository Records Search Like Looking for Needle in Haystack

At the Palisades Neighborhood Library, the editor searches in vain through the unlabeled drawers of the Spring Valley FUDS-cleanup public information repository for recently released Area of Interest task force [AOITF] reports. Charged with investigating 28 areas of interest within the 662-acre Spring Valley project area, the AOITF made recommendations if additional investigations were needed. In a closet-sized alcove, housed in identical white binders in no apparent order, are paper records generated over the project's 15-year history.

Spring Valley "Areas of Interest"

Hunt for Munitions at Pit 3 Moves onto Neighbor's Property

"Construction began on the South Extension [of the Emergency Containment Structure] and continues into September ... The South Extension’s construction is expected to take 6 weeks, and should be completed in mid September. The digging investigation inside the South Extension will be short; 1 - 2 weeks is anticipated. During this time the Shelter-in Place program will go into effect again for those residents and workers within 750 feet of the project area, Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m."
Spring Valley FUDS
Monthly Project Update
August 2008

Forum Focuses on Long-Term Health Effects of Buried Poisons

Left to right: K. Slowinski, C. Ion, B. Resnick & Camille Saum

At the third Friends of the Earth roundtable on the 15-year cleanup of World War I-era chemical weapons in northwest Washington DC, community activist Kent Slowinski reacts to a presentation by Dr. Beth Resnick summarizing the 2007 Johns Hopkins Public Health Scoping Study. As Global Green USA co-convener Cristian Ion looks on, a cameraman records the event for a forthcoming documentary entitled Bombs in Our Backyard, which exposes Spring Valley as the nation’s most affluent toxic dump.

Arsenic Contaminated Soil Near Hughes Hall to Be Removed

"For several years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been conducting environmental investigations and cleanup activities on and around the AU campus. This work will continue in the coming weeks as the Army Corps undertakes arsenic-containing soil cleanup activities just north of Hughes Hall ... The digging is expected to start in late July and be completed before fall semester begins."
Jorge Abud, Assist. Vice President, Facilities
American University
July 14, 2008

Getting Them Out of the Neighborhood is Top Priority

Photo Credit: Jacquelyn Martin -- AP

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, continues its work at Pit 3 … The types of items that are being recovered are exactly the types of items the USACE has planned for, specifically, old munitions. These items could present a future risk to the community if not removed — safely recovering these items and getting them out of the neighborhood during this operation is a top priority. “The day we dig an empty hole at Pit 3 will be a good day,” said [Project Manager Dan] Noble. “We will continue digging until we reach clean soil.”
The Corps’pondent (June 2008: pg. 3)

Army Cleanup Extends to AU Campus

  Public Safety Building

"The work planned for around the Public Safety Building will include investigating two areas in the front of the building where buried anomalies have been identified; excavating and removing buried debris in the rear of the property; and sampling and removing contaminated soil and associated debris (if present) around the utility trench to the east of the building ... This project will continue at least to the end of this year (2008)."


Neil Kerwin, President

American University

June 13, 2008


The Army Corps of Engineers resumes excavations today to recover chemicals buried in the area known as Lot 18, located on the South Side of campus behind the Public Safety, Financial Aid and Hamilton buildings. Last fall the Army Corps found a glass container containing the chemical agent Lewisite. Since then, the site has been closed pending stricter security measures as the site was reclassified as a "High Probability" area where more Lewisite may be found, according to the Army Corps … The Army Corps has been working on and around AU's campus since 2001 when arsenic was discovered in the soil of the intramural field and around the Child Development Center.
Keith F Shovlin

The Eagle 

June 21, 2004