Army Corps Punts on University's Public Safety Building Cleanup

To address possible disposal areas, a generic MEC HA [Munitions & Explosives of Concern Hazard Assessment] that conservatively assumed a worst case disposal area/burial pit scenario was completed ... Unknowns associated with the identified possible disposal areas ... suggest the need for response actions to mitigate unacceptable explosive hazards that could exist in these areas.  The AU Public Safety Building (PSB) is considered one of these possible disposal areas.  As the PSB is an active building on the AU campus, so long as it remains in place, it effectively acts as a cap or control to contain any potential explosive hazard (that is, it prevents interaction between source and receptor).  However, when the PSB is removed, the preferred explosive hazards mitigation alternative will be applied to the area and any burial pits will be properly addressed.
Spring Valley FUDS
Final Proposed Plan
June 7, 2016 (pg. 8)

Location of 75mm shell found under PSB entrance (pg. 25)

The Partners discussed how to address the remedial action for the debris under the building during the unspecified period of time between the Decision Document (DD) and the removal of the building ... AU asked whether the university would have to wait after the building was removed, possibly years, until the AUES-related debris could be excavated and removed from the campus.  USACE confirmed that if the remedy is specified in the DD, the Army is required to fund implementation of it; however when it can be implemented based on the availability of funds for any given year is unclear ... AU explained that the building is expected to be no longer used for Public Safety operations once the new development on the East Campus is completed [March 2017].  The potential for unclear timing of a future remedy may influence the university’s plans for the building and whether a new office operation would be relocated to the building. 
Spring Valley Partners
Meeting Minutes 
November 3, 2015 (pgs. 7 - 8)

Found beneath concrete slab 4 feet under PSB entrance (pg. 29)

Allen Hengst:  Have you discussed AU's future plans for that building, because it's falling apart? 
                                                        
Dan Noble:  We have indications from American University that the removal of that building is probably going to happen sooner rather than later.  So we are planning within our budgetary cycle to have the funds available to implement that portion of the remedy.
Restoration Advisory Board
Meeting Minutes
July 12, 2016 (pg. 10) 

Public Comments Sought on Site-Wide Spring Valley Cleanup

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will seek to minimize unnecessary disruptions to residents as it investigates several dozen properties in Spring Valley for possible buried munitions, the Army said Monday as it released its “preferred alternative” for the latest phase of work in the community. The Army has been working in Spring Valley since 1993 — at a cost of more than $267 million to date — to locate and remove contaminated soil and hazardous debris from areas where chemical munitions were tested during the World War I era ... The Army already investigated 43 residential properties (along with undeveloped woodland and D.C. right-of-way space) for these hazards between 2003 and 2010, in addition to other efforts elsewhere in Spring Valley that included munitions excavation and removal of contaminated soil. This time, the Army will return to check out another 49 properties and potentially revisit some of the earlier 43 ...  The “preferred alternative” plan released Monday calls for the Army to conduct digital geophysical mapping of open areas not yet investigated on these properties, and then to remove items determined to be a potential hazard. This preferred alternative, at an estimated average cost of $192,500 per property, avoids disturbing buildings, driveways, fences, and large trees and other “valuable” vegetation.
Brady Holt
Northwest Current

June 15, 2016 

Spring Valley "Response Action Areas" (pg. 44)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District has released the Site-Wide Proposed Plan for the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) and will be hosting a public information session from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. the evening of July 14, 2016 at American University.  The meeting will be held in the Butler Board Room on the 6th Floor of the Bender Arena at American University, at 4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20016.  Free parking will be available at the Bender Arena parking garage after 5:00 p.m. ... The public will have the opportunity to submit oral or written comments regarding the Proposed Plan to the Meeting Recorder that evening.  The public can also submit comments via letter or e-mail until the end of the comment period, July 28, 2016 ... Written comments can be sent to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ATTN: Chris Gardner, Rm. 11400, 10 South Howard St., Baltimore, MD 21201; or by e-mail to: christopher.p.gardner@usace.army.mil no later than midnight July 28, 2016.
US Army Corps of Engineers
Announcement of Site-Wide Proposed Plan
Spring Valley FUDS

"Missing" Workers Identify More Hazards at 4835 Glenbrook Road

A recent [Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry] report reached few strong conclusions about the health risks to residents and construction workers at 4825 Glenbrook Road NW, which was severely contaminated by chemical munitions left over from a World War I-era Army testing facility at American University.  But when the federal team behind the report presented their limited findings at last Tuesday’s Restoration Advisory Board meeting, the audience included three of those workers who built the house at the Spring Valley property — workers whom the researchers had been unable to reach.  Interviewed after the meeting, the three said they suffered fairly serious health problems while working at the site, and that they believe the worst contamination also affects the American University president’s house next door at 4835 Glenbrook.  “There’s all kinds of stuff under it, stuff that could explode under you,” one worker said ...  

 

Researchers were unable to get any specific information from the workers other than transcripts of past interviews with Ginny Durrin, a Spring Valley filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the testing and the decades-long cleanup project.  In those transcripts, the workers express grave concerns about 4835 Glenbrook.  They alleged that contaminated soil ... and suspicious items were covered over with a layer of concrete.  Army Corps spokesperson Christopher Gardner said investigators did thoroughly check 4835 in 2007 and 2008.
Northwest Current
May 18, 2016

Army Testing 'Metal Mapper' to Expedite 3-Year Cleanup Timeline

As the Army Corps of Engineers investigates properties in Spring Valley for possible remaining hazards, the community’s Restoration Advisory Board is asking that the Army develop a system for prioritizing the properties on its work list, with some residents pushing for priority to be given to owners hoping to sell their homes.  Although the Army’s work in the neighborhood — investigating and addressing contamination from World War I-era chemical munitions testing — is largely complete, officials last year identified about 100 properties that they wanted to look into further ...  The board unanimously asked the Army to report back in July with a description of how it will prioritize properties ...  With the current testing methods, [project manager Dan Noble] said it could take the Army as long as three years to look at all 100 suspect properties and remove all potentially dangerous items.  Board member Kathleen Connell said that sellers of suspicious properties “are taking a bath” if they sell now.  “I want to know how [properties are] to be expedited,” she said ... 

As part of the investigation, the Army is partnering with the Naval Research Laboratories to pilot some new technology that could make the process a great deal faster and also less expensive ...  With the new system to be tested, it should be possible to create an electromagnetic pulse over a metal object and listen for the item’s “decay curve” ...  The decay curves on objects found by the devices will be compared with the information in the library, and only the items that match a dangerous substance would have to be excavated ...  If the experimental devices correctly identify the objects that are potentially dangerous on the five properties, the new system will be used on the rest of the 100 properties where it is thought there might be dangerous buried materials.
Northwest Current
May 18, 2016

 Corps partners with NRL on pilot project (pg. 27)

Alex Zahl, USACE:  The Metal Mapper has been used at other sites with open land for the last 10-15 years.  The device is fairly large and needs a tractor to move it around a property, which is not practical for a landscaped Spring Valley property.  However, in the last 5 years, the Navy, who are considered DoD experts in finding ordnance items, has developed a smaller version of the Metal Mapper.  This instrument is called the Time-Domain Electromagnetic Multi-sensor Towed Array Detection System (TEMTADS).  At roughly 2 feet by 2 feet, the TEMTADS is pushed on a cart, making it more maneuverable and able to fit in smaller areas ... The Man Portable Vector (MPV) is another handheld unit, about 15 inches in diameter.  The MPV is still in its developmental phase and only one exists at this time.  The Navy has a prototype of the MPV and a TEMTADS. USACE has partnered with the Navy to conduct a Pilot Project in Spring Valley.
Spring Valley RAB 
Meeting Minutes
March 8, 2016 (pg. 9)

6-Year ATSDR 'Health Evaluation' Released for Public Comment

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) released their "Health Consultation Report - An Exposure and Health Effects Evaluation of Former Workers and Residents to Chemical Contamination at 4825 Glenbrook Road, Washington, D.C." today.  In 2010, the Corps of Engineers asked ATSDR ... to develop the report, which evaluated past exposure scenarios at the 4825 Glenbrook Road property, specifically for two groups: construction and other workers who developed the property (1992-1993), and the family who lived at the residence from 1993 until 1999.  ATSDR is holding a public comment period to gather feedback from the public regarding their evaluation, starting today and closing on June 20, 2016.  Experts from ATSDR are currently scheduled to attend the regularly scheduled Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board meeting, on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 at 7 PM, to discuss the report and receive feedback from the public.
Announcement
Spring Valley FUDS
Community Outreach Team
April 19, 2016

 

Northwest Current health survey (11/10/04)

Conclusion 1: Some construction workers likely experienced harmful short-term (or acute) health effects while working at the property because of exposure to arsenic, CWAs (such as lewisite and sulfur mustard), and other chemicals. Workers, especially those who worked on the property for a year or more, may have an increased cancer risk ... Workers who had intensive soil contact and repeated exposures are more likely to have experienced harmful health effects ... In May 1992, several construction workers were reportedly overcome during soil excavation activities at 4825 Glenbrook Road and required emergency care for respiratory problems (see "Acute effects," pgs. 4 & 7).  Transcripts of interviews with workers indicate exposure to chemicals during home construction in 1992 and 1993. Based on a medical officer evaluation of these transcripts, exposure to arsenic, arsenicals, irritants, and possibly sulfur mustard was likely ... However, this cancer risk estimate is based on soil arsenic levels remaining on the property after it was developed and is the minimum increased cancer risk.

Conclusion 2: Except for arsenic in soil, insufficient past exposure information is available to determine if former residents of 4825 Glenbrook Road had (or have) harmful health effects related to exposures ... Without data for all possible past exposures, particularly indoor air and dust ... ATSDR is unable to speculate on any possible causal relationship between the former residents’ reported health conditions and their potential exposures while residing at 4825 Glenbrook Road ... ATSDR will attempt to notify former workers and residents about their potential for past exposure to chemicals at this site and share this health consultation with them. If former workers or former residents have experienced symptoms they feel are related to past potential environmental exposures at this property, their healthcare providers can contact ATSDR for further assistance.

ATSDR

Health Evaluation of Former Workers 
& Residents at 4825 Glenbrook Road
April 19, 2016

Excavating basement under ECS tent (USACE)

Long Postponed Investigation of POI 2 Comes Up Empty-Handed

In January1993, the first discovery of munitions in Spring Valley was made on 52 Court, NW, when a backhoe operator excavated part of the disposal pit, exposing munitions items.  At that location, there were circular trenches that were used for munitions testing during the World War I era ... When USACE began investigating and reestablishing the history of the American University Experiment Station (AUES), USACE noticed a very similar set of trenches existing on Sedgwick. The Sedgwick Trenches became "Point of Interest" (POI) 1 in the site conceptual model of what needed to be further investigated in Spring Valley. POI 2, 3, and 4 were areas immediately adjacent to Sedgwick Trench, where aerial photography suggested the existence of disposal features. During the remedial investigation, USACE was able to investigate POI 3 and 4, but not POI 2. After 2012, USACE reestablished communication with the property owner at 3700 Block of Fordham Road, where property POI 2 is located. USACE was able to gain access to the property to intrusively investigate POI 2 within the last few weeks. 

1986 EPIC Photo Analysis, Vol. II (fig. 2)

In 2003, two geophysical surveys were conducted at this property; an Electromagnetic (EM) survey and a Magnetic (MAG) survey. The EM survey showed two clusters of single point anomalies in the front yard. A "possible pit" feature was seen on the MAG survey, but not on the EM survey. Although there may be some error in the aerial photograph from 1918, the location of the "possible pit" feature shown in the MAG survey very closely matches the location of a "possible pit" ground scar on the 1918 map, causing this area to be of more interest to the Army Corps ... The MAG survey can be more sensitive, and can scan deeper into the ground. Anomalies do not show up on an EM survey if they are buried very deep. So there might be a disposal pit full of World War I bombs made out of metal, which could be an explanation as to why the anomalies show up in the MAG Survey but not in the EM survey ... 

Red arrow points to POI 2 (possible burial pit in backyard).

USACE went back to the property in March. The large anomaly was intrusively investigated in two locations ... Once these holes were excavated to four feet, the geophysical instruments were inserted into the holes. The instruments did not detect a signal at the bottom of either hole. When the instruments were brought up the side of the hole near the surface, the signal returned. The conclusion is that something about the soil structure in this area causes a magnetic signature. The signal happens near surface, in the first foot or two. However, there were no more magnetic signals at the bottom of the holes. USACE [now] believes that this large anomalous area, which was designated as POI 2, is due to what is referred to as “hot soil” or “hot rocks,” not buried metal.

Dan Noble, Project Manager

Spring Valley FUDS
RAB Meeting Minutes
March 8, 2016 (pgs. 6 - 8)

RAB Meeting PowerPoint (March 8, 2016, pg. 13)