Army May Seek Court Order to Access "POI 2" on Fordham Road

"POI 2" is located behind this house on Fordham Road

USACE clarified that EPA legal assistance was requested to obtain access to a Fordham Road property where a potential disposal pit [Point of Interest 2] may be present ... The Fordham Road property is located adjacent to a Test Trench similar to the Test Trench on 52nd Court where an associated AUES-related disposal pit was recovered. This suggests that a significant public health threat is potentially present ... DDOE will determine whether property access at a 3700 block of Fordham Road property can potentially be obtained under a DC court order via the hazardous waste management act.
Partnering Meeting Minutes
October 26, 2010 (pg. 22)

Quarterly Sampling Begins in Hunt for Campus Perchlorate Source

The Army Corps of Engineers will conduct tests to determine if perchlorate in Spring Valley groundwater near Sibley Memorial Hospital comes from the same source as the perchlorate in the groundwater at AU’s campus ... Experts believe a former munitions pit on the South side of campus called Lot 18 is causing the high perchlorate levels in both locations ... Perchlorate, a dangerous chemical that can cause thyroid disorders, was used at AU during World War I to make chemical weapons.

The Kreeger Hall testing site has the highest concentration of perchlorate in Spring Valley ... The Army Corps will now sample groundwater from the area every three months because perchlorate levels in the groundwater change according to the seasons and the amount of precipitation, [project manager Dan] Noble said.
Mitch Ellmauer
The Eagle (November 15, 2010)

Utility Consults Army to Replace Water Mains in Spring Valley

A city initiative to replace aging water mains in the neighborhood of last year’s devastating fire on Chain Bridge Road ran headfirst last week into one of the facts of life in Spring Valley: buried munitions. Representatives from the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority told the area advisory neighborhood commission last week that in addition to Chain Bridge Road, portions of Glenbrook Road, Woodway Lane and Rockwood Parkway would be dug up in order to replace the water mains.

But the Army Corps of Engineers has told residents that sections of those roads cover potential munitions caches, commissioners said. “They have said they don’t want to disturb the site,” said commissioner Tom Smith ... According to a spokesperson for the District Department of the Environment, there is a slight possibility that chemical munitions could be found under the roadways.
Northwest Current
November 10, 2010 (pg. 1)

"Bombs in Our Backyard" Excerpt Shown at Corcoran Gallery of Art

Last week at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Spring Valley resident Ginny Durrin presented a rough cut of her film about the munitions that were tested and buried at American University during World War I. “I’ve been filming ever since the story of a neighborhood in distress first broke,” Durrin said. “The cleanup has taken 100 times as long as putting the chemicals in the ground there in the first place” ... Durrin said she must raise about $100,000 to complete her movie.
Northwest Current
October 27, 2010: pg. 12

Filmmaker Ginny Durrin

Through the incorporation of archival footage, local news coverage, and interviews with Spring Valley residents and army and government officials, “Bombs in Our Backyard” raises questions about government culpability and social and environmental responsibility while shedding light on a growing cause for concern: as many as 200 other Formerly Used Defense Sites exist elsewhere in America ... “Bombs in Our Backyard” is a clarion call to activists, environmentalists, and thoughtful, engaged citizens the world over.
Bombs in Our Backyard

Former Ft. Detrick Employee Says Bio Weapons Were Released in DC

FREDERICK, Md. (WUSA) -- A former Ft. Detrick employee says biological weapons were released into the air and the unsuspecting public was exposed. She says it happened in Washington, DC, during the Cold War. Dottie Blank, 77, says she worked as a secretary at Ft. Detrick from 1955 to 1989 ... She says members of the military would expose people in public to biological diseases.

"They called them the suitcase samplers," she said. "They would go down to DC, or where the train is, and they would use whatever they had mixed up and they would just sort of walk through like a regular person that was getting a train and they would let that out into the atmosphere." She says the diseases were known to make people sick, but not cause death. She says they would test the air to see how far the chemical traveled ...

Blank has Leukemia. She says Ft. Detrick has been providing her bottled water for years because chemicals were found in her water at home. She says she believes her illness was caused by chemicals from Ft. Detrick.
9 NEWS NOW
October 21, 2010

EPA Braces for Pushback on Proposed Perchlorate Standard

Environmental Working Group

A government official briefed by the EPA told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the agency has proposed that the chemical, perchlorate, be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act ... In 2008, under President George W. Bush, the EPA decided against regulating the chemical, saying that setting a federal standard would do little to reduce risks to public health. That decision angered environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers. The Pentagon and EPA have tussled over the issue for years, with the Pentagon potentially facing liability if the standard were to force water agencies around the country to undertake costly cleanup efforts.
Associated Press
September 30, 2010

Environmental Working Group

But EPA's initial foray toward using its Safe Drinking Water Act authority against perchlorate is only the first step in a lengthy process that begins at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), an arm of the Office of Management and Budget where federal agencies and private-sector interests weigh in on the economic impact of potential new rules ... While [University of Maryland law professor Rena Steinzor] greeted EPA's movement on perchlorate with "a big round of applause," Steinzor said she would view OIRA review of the chemical with "a sense of foreboding ... because EPA has encountered such vehement resistance from federal polluters," which could face high cleanup bills. Perchlorate contamination is estimated to be present in the drinking water of at least 35 states and the District of Columbia.
New York Times
October 4, 2010

Conventional Munitions Will be Destroyed Behind Hospital Soon

Later this fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to mobilize a Controlled Detonation Chamber (CDC) to the Spring Valley federal property to destroy the conventional munitions that were recovered during recent investigations at Spring Valley.. . The destruction process begins by wrapping a donor explosive, or rolled sheet explosive, around the munition, placing the munition in the CDC, then closing and sealing the door. Once the door is closed, the donor explosive is remotely detonated.

In addition to the inherent safety measures built into the detonation chamber, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to use sandbag barriers to ensure the safety of the workers and the surrounding community during the operation. The safety and setup plans are currently being reviewed by various organizations within the Department of Defense, as well as the Corps’ regulatory partners.
The Corps'pondent
September 2010