After 7 Months Cleanup Plan Still Awaiting Army Brass Signature

Army officials will likely grant final approval this month to demolish the house at 4825 Glenbrook Road, the site of a suspected burial pit of World War I-era debris. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to raze the house in July and excavate the site through summer 2013 ... The cleanup work at the property, which will remove potentially contaminated soil down to bedrock, will also encroach on the neighboring house at 4835 Glenbrook, now occupied by American University’s president. 
   
The Army Corps believes that property may include a possible “hot spot” of hazardous material beneath a retaining wall. Once the 4825 house is demolished, a protective cover will go over the excavation area to shield workers and neighbors from direct contact with possible contaminants. Workers will also install a chemical-agent filtration system, along with a generator and noise-control devices.
Northwest Current
May 16, 2012 (pg. 5)

4825 Glenbrook Road information page

Corps Will Investigate Last Nine "Areas of Interest" in Spring Valley

Plans are currently underway to perform additional soil sampling at four discrete areas, involving 18 residential properties and a portion of the AU campus ... The purpose of this additional sampling effort is to supplement the existing data to ensure sufficient information exists to make human health and ecological risk determinations. All sampling and investigative data, and the subsequent human health and ecological risk evaluations, will be presented in the site-wide Spring Valley Remedial Investigation report and available for public review upon its finalization (which is anticipated in 2014).

Spring Valley FUDS 

Project Summary
May 2012

Area of Interest Status Map

Kathleen Connell (RAB Member): Why was there a substantial delay between 1993 and 1999 and doing it now? If these were identified as properties that had potential interest, why was nothing done at that period of time?

Dan Noble (Project Manager): We prioritized our requirements for the project. Eachyear, as we got our money we spoke with the Partners about what needed to be done  and focused on what we felt needed to be done first. This effort is essentially collecting more data to further address some of the issues that came up during the 1999 EPA Risk Assessment ... This [investigation] would certainly bring an end to our field work, other than continued groundwater monitoring and the work at 4825 Glenbrook.
Spring Valley FUDS
RAB Meeting Minutes
May 8, 2012

Boldface AOI's remain to be investigated

University Says It Paid to Ensure Quicker, More "Focused" Cleanup

AU hired a lobbying firm to ensure the Army Corps of Engineers’ Spring Valley project would remain a priority of the U.S. government and maintain adequate funding ... The University employed D.C.-based Cassidy and Associates from 2005 to 2009. The annual expense for the company’s services was a little under $145,000 ...

"The University’s efforts benefited not only AU but the Spring Valley community by keeping the Corps funded and focused,” [assistant vice president for communications & media Camille] Lepre said. “During the term of the engagement, funding for the cleanup was increased substantially, enabling work to be completed in a much shorter time frame than originally planned.”
Alex Greco
The Eagle
May 1, 2012 (pg. 8)

Cassidy & Associates

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)