Norton Falls for NPS Whitewash of Fort Totten WW I-Era Munition

Learning of a possible link between an empty World War I shell, found in 2020 during construction of a trail through Fort Totten Park, and the decades-long Spring Valley cleanup of chemical weapons was concerning to D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.  Now, after calling for a meeting with the heads of the National Park Service and the Army Corps of Engineers, Norton told WTOP she has been assured that no other evidence of World War I weapons or safety concerns have been discovered.  “I could not believe that we were finding unexploded ordnance,” said Norton.  “Not after what we went through, in 1993” ... The 1993 discovery [of a munitions burial pit on 52nd Court] prompted the Spring Valley cleanup in Northwest D.C. at the former American University Experiment Station (AUES) used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions — once dubbed the “mother of all toxic dumps” ...

As WTOP reported, the empty 75 mm shell found at Ft. Totten had been modified for use as a chemical weapon, and was similar to the weapons discovered in Spring Valley, according to Dan Noble of the Corps of Engineers, project manager of the Spring Valley cleanup.  Norton said she was told the ordnance discovered at Ft. Totten had likely been there since 1992, when contaminated soil from Spring Valley was trucked to a landscaping project at the Ft. Totten Metro station ... In 1992, the heavy equipment operator spreading Glenbrook Road soil at the Ft. Totten Metro site felt sickened from the fumes of the soil, and the U.S. Park Service ordered it be removed.  “We had a very in-depth meeting,” with park service and Army Corps officials, said Norton.  “There has been a thorough search of the entire area [sic], and no additional ordnance or issues had been turned up — I hope I can rely on that, this time.”  “They have assured me that they have done a very thorough search of the entire area,” Norton added ... “When they say the entire area, that’s what I’m going to hold them to,” Norton said.

Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

March 9, 2022

Area closed by UXO at Ft. Totten is highlighted (NPS)

 

In the April 2019 SI Report, the NPS said that “approximately 60 yards of uncompacted fill material,” containing Glenbrook Road soil contaminated with AUES munitions debris and laboratory waste, was dumped in the western section of Ft. Totten "as part of landscape restoration” in 1992 (Section 2.2, pg.5). Due to fumes that sickened the bulldozer operator who was spreading the fill material, the NPS subsequently ordered the toxic soil to be removed. As you know, the July 2020 75mm shell — recovered in a narrow wooded strip of land located east of the metro station between Gallatin and Galloway Streets, NE — had been adapted with a hexagonal plug to accommodate poison gas. Logic dictates that the 2020 discovery of this AUES munition, “2100 feet" east (August 2021 PA/SI Report, Introduction, pg. 2) of the 1992 dumping, originated from the Glenbrook Road construction sites and was, in fact, part of the multiple tons of relocated fill material. Even though the NPS — and now apparently Congresswoman Norton — are “reassured” that the April 2021 survey was “thorough,” I’m frankly horrified by this blatant obfuscation. As if the original transfer of toxic waste from one of the wealthier residential areas of our nation’s capital to a working class, Northeast neighborhood wasn’t bad enough, the NPS’ current boneheaded cover-up just compounds the error.

Allen Hengst

Email to Project Mgr. Noble

March 9, 2022

Park Service Colludes in Covering Up Spring Valley's Darkest Secret

A World War I-era unexploded shell discovered in July 2020 by the National Park Service during construction of a trail through Northeast D.C.’s Fort Totten could be a prequel to the decades-long cleanup of a former World War I chemical weapons site near American University’s campus.  The type of weapon recovered and the history of where it was recovered have suggested a link between the discovery in Ward 5’s Ft. Totten and Ward 3’s Spring Valley cleanup at the former American University Experiment Station [AUES] used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions — once dubbed the “mother of all toxic dumps.”  In response to WTOP’s reporting, D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said she will be calling a joint meeting of the park service, the Army Corps of Engineers [USACE] and Metro to discuss the issue of the chemical weapon and what should be done about it ... A closer look at the empty shell found in Ft. Totten — one of seven Northeast D.C. forts used by the Union Army to defend the nation’s capital during the Civil War — revealed it had been modified for use as a chemical weapon.  “When we looked at the X-rays, it was a 75-millimeter ordnance item that we encounter quite a bit at Spring Valley,” said Dan Noble, of the USACE, and project manager for the ongoing Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site project. 

Soldiers train at AUES in 1917 (LOC)

“It had a hex plug burster adapter screwed into the nose of the projectile,” Noble told WTOP.  “It would convert what was developed as a conventional munition into a chemical munition” ... Even before a contractor digging a utility trench in Spring Valley in 1993 uncovered a buried military ordnance, which prompted the USACE investigation that revealed homes on Glenbrook Road were built atop chemical weapon burial pits, contaminated soil from Glenbrook Rd. was trucked to a landscaping project at Ft. Totten Metro station ... In 1992, the heavy equipment operator spreading Glenbrook Road soil at the Fort Totten Metro site felt sickened from the fumes of the soil, and the U.S. Park Service [NPS] ordered it be removed, Noble told [pg. 13] the Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board ... Allen Hengst, who has been blogging about the issue for the last 15 years, said he thinks the contaminated soil was moved from the Ft. Totten Metro site a few hundred yards away to the area where the trail is being constructed.  Hengst said he believes the NPS search after the 2020 discovery was perfunctory, and limited to the immediate trail area in Ft. Totten.  Hengst suggests a wider search would likely uncover more chemical remnants from the Spring Valley site.  It’s not clear any more physical investigation will be done.

Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

February 9, 2022

Norton demands joint meeting with agencies

 

ANC Seeks 'thorough' Investigation
Of Toxic 1992 Dumping at Ft. Totten

 The possible link between an empty World War I shell, discovered in 2020 during construction of a trail through Ft. Totten Park, and the massive Spring Valley cleanup of chemical weapons has the local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner seeking a “thorough investigation.”  Gordon-Andrew Fletcher, ANC Commissioner 5A-08, represents the area where the NPS discovered a World War I-era unexploded shell during construction of a paved, lit trail through wooded parkland that will replace  an informal path neighbors in Michigan Park used to get to the Fort Totten Metro station in Northeast D.C.   ... Fletcher said:  “I do commend Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for calling for a meeting with all necessary stakeholders, because this is an environmental safety issue.”  

ANC Commissioner Fletcher

In response to WTOP’s reporting that the empty 75mm shell discovered by the NPS had been modified for use as a chemical weapon and that contaminated soil from the Spring Valley cleanup had been trucked to Ft. Totten in 1992, Norton said she would call for a joint meeting of the NPS, the USACE, Metro and council members and ANC from Wards 5 and 3.  “I think we have to make sure we do a thorough search, a thorough investigation, to make sure that there’s nothing there, for years to come,” said Fletcher, who is also a candidate in the upcoming primary for Ward 5 council seat ... “The NPS investigation of the trail site at Ft. Totten did not reveal any additional shells or concerns for the health or safety of the community,” said [NPS spokesperson Cynthia] Hernandez ... “Ward 5 already has many environmental safety concerns due to air pollution and leaking underground storage tanks,” said Fletcher, noting that residents in the Brentwood neighborhood have filed suit against Mayor Muriel Bowser to stop the District from building a bus depot.   While a lengthy investigation would likely slow construction of the long-awaited path, Fletcher prioritizes safety. 

Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

February 10, 2022

NPS Releases Two Reports in Response to Sept. FOIA Request

Thank you very much for providing a relatively complete answer to my September 2021 request for more information concerning last April’s investigation of the World War I-era 75mm artillery shell that was exposed following heavy rains in July 2020 ... FUDS cleanup program director Dan Noble informed the RAB on January 12, 2021, that USACE had "inspected and obtained x-rays of the shell" and that "the shell was found to be a 75mm with a hex plug” [Minutes, pg. 7].  According to DOEE specialist Richard Albright, during WW I the experiment stations at Lakehurst, NJ, Edgewood Arsenal, MD, and AUES adapted the Army’s standard high explosive 75mm field artillery round by adding a hexagonal plug to accommodate poison gas.  Hence, there can be no doubt that the shell discovered at Ft. Totten in July 2020 came from the Glenbrook Road munitions burial pits in Spring Valley in northwest Washington, DC ... 

 

I cannot read the two voluminous reports you provided for several weeks but, after a cursory review of their contents, I’m absolutely astounded that — taken together — these documents definitively solve an enduring mystery that has bedeviled Spring Valley FUDS cleanup stakeholders for nearly thirty years.  Namely, what ultimately happened to the soil contaminated with chemical warfare materials (CWM) and laboratory waste from the 4825 and 4835 Glenbrook Road construction sites that was dumped and subsequently removed from Ft. Totten National Park in 1992.  In short, these two reports finally reveal that the ultimate destination of the toxic Spring Valley fill material was a narrow wooded strip of land located east of the Metro station between Gallatin and Galloway Streets, NE — approximately 2100 feet (or seven football fields) away from the original staging area [2021 PA/SI Report, Introduction, pg. 2].

X-ray of 75mm shell with hex plug at top (slide #26)

Not only does the 2019 SI Report delineate the precise staging area at Ft. Totten where soil with contaminants of potential concern (COPCs) were originally spread by the bulldozer [see Figure 2 map, pg. 22], it states that “approximately 60 yards of uncompacted fill material” was placed there "as part of landscape restoration” [Section 2.2, pg. 5] ... If the NPS already knew — from its 2019 SI Report — that multiple tons (“60 yards”) of Glenbrook Road soil with COPCs was originally spread out west of the Ft. Totten Metro station in 1992, why — after discovery of an AUES UXO roughly 2,100 feet east of that location — was the April 2021 investigation confined to that very narrow footpath instead of a much larger area on either side?  

 

The question of how much toxic Glenbrook Road fill material still remains at Ft. Totten cannot be answered until the NPS conducts a more thorough and transparent investigation.  At the March 9, 2021, RAB meeting I asked director Noble [Minutes, pg. 13] whether he thought the tons of contaminated soil that were moved from Spring Valley could have been “contained in the one-quarter acre where the foot trail is [now located]?”  If the NPS “only surveys the foot trail,” I suggested, "they’re going to miss [contaminated] soil to the east and west.”  Please excuse me for saying so but, in your agency’s zeal to obtain a clean bill of health at Ft. Totten, this now appears to be exactly what happened.
Allen Hengst
Email to NPS Chief Bartolomeo
January 24, 2022 (pg. 2)

WWI Chemical Weapons Cleanup Completed at 4825 Glenbrook Rd

After decades of efforts, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [USACE] said Tuesday that cleanup at the site in Northwest D.C. along Glenbrook Road, where World War I chemical weapons were tested and disposed of, is complete ... The project in the Spring Valley neighborhood at 4825 Glenbrook Road NW — part of a larger area known as the American University Experiment Station, and once called the “mother of all toxic dumps” — started in 1993, when a contractor unearthed buried military ordnance on nearby 52nd Court NW.  

 

Digging and research indicated the likely presence of mustard gas and lewisite — an arsenic-containing blister agent.  The property was tested between 2007 and 2010, and the decision was made in 2012 to remove the house at the site.  Starting in 2013, USACE began excavating under the house’s foundation.  The work was done under a huge high-tech enclosure, which prevented chemicals from escaping into the neighborhood.  Over the years, there had been some setbacks.  In 2017, seven workers were sickened and temporarily hospitalized during the cleanup.

Will Vitka & Neal Augenstein

WTOP News

November 25, 2021 

4825 Glenbrook Road was demolished in 2012 (pg. 31)

"During the war, there was no military research more urgent or secret than what took place in this corner of the District,” USACE Col. Estee Pinchasin said.  About 1,500 chemists, scientists and soldiers worked at what was known as the American University Experiment Station to research chemical warfare in 1917 and 1918.  When the war, ended many of those weapons and chemicals were buried in what is now one of the most expensive neighborhoods in D.C. ... The biggest deposit was at 4825 Glenbrook Road.  “The team discovered seven different chemical agents, six other chemicals that had unique military applications,” Pinchasin said.  “And Glenbrook Road was the only site in the United States where weaponized arsine was encountered in 75 mm projectiles.” 

The entire site covers more than 600 acres of Spring Valley.  “This one quarter acre property had the most significant contamination and the largest burial pits we discovered in Spring Valley,” said Brenda Barber, who has overseen the Glenbrook Road site for USACE for nine years.  The home that once stood there was taken down.  Beneath it they found more than 2,000 pounds of laboratory debris, 53 glass containers still filled with chemical agents, 7,500 tons of contaminated soil and more than 550 munitions ... USACE expects the remaining work in the area to take about two to three more years.  The remediation project has cost about $300 [$338] million so far [pg. 10].   

Mark Segraves   

NBC-4

November 23, 2021

Cleanup cost over $338 million since 1993 (pg. 10)

Army Will Chase AUES Debris into Hill Alongside PSB Next Year

The findings of the test pit and rotosonic investigations indicate that additional excavation is warranted to remove the AUES debris that was encountered in soil west, north, and east of the Public Safety Building footprint.  The goal of the PSB slope investigation was to determine the extent of continuous AUES debris extending from the PSB excavation sidewalls.  An area of continuous AUES debris was indicated to the west (approximately 12 feet from the former PSB foundation), to the east (approximately 16 feet from the former PSB foundation), and to the north (approximately 15 feet from the former PSB foundation).  This area also corresponds to soil benches 4 and 5, where AUES debris was encountered during the excavation in 2019 ... [The proposed soil and AUES debris excavation area] would involve the excavation and removal of an estimated in-place volume of 720 cubic yards of soil and AUES debris ... Prior to excavating a specific area, a UXO Tech III will sweep the planned excavation area with a magnetometer ... Any identified MEC items or intact AUES items will be handled in accordance with the Low Probability Contingency Plan [pg. 15].
Weston Solutions, Inc.
PSB Slope Investigation Report
June 23, 2021 (pgs. 10 & 11)

Debris found in soil west, north & east of footprint (pg.19)

USACE sent out a "Request of Proposal" dated July 21 2021 to complete excavation of AUES debris east, north and west of the former PSB foundation.  Proposal was submitted on 8 September 2021.  The proposed soil to be excavated is presented in the [slide below]; the area is based on the test pit and Rotosonic soil borings completed at the PSB site in April 2021.  To safely conduct the soil slope excavation north of the former PSB foundation, a soil retaining wall is recommended ... The planned upslope excavation at RS-04 would be conducted using a slide rail shoring system.

 PSB slope proposed excavation extent (pg. 22)

Based on the investigation results, USACE determined the scope of work to excavate the extent of AUES debris identified.  Once funding has been obtained and the work awarded, additional plans will be required before re-starting the soil remediation work.  This will entail a delay of many months before the work is awarded and the required planning documents are prepared and approved.  Slope Soil Removal not expected to begin until winter/spring 2022.
Spring Valley RAB
PowerPoint Presentation
November 9, 2021 (pgs. 21 & 23)

Info Sought from Park Service on Spring Valley Dumping in 90's

At Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's March 25 virtual Town Hall meeting with the National Park Service, officials from your agency were asked about the Fort Circle/Fort Totten pedestrian trail, which has been closed since last summer after heavy rains exposed a World War I-era 75mm artillery shell.  In the response (pgs. 4 - 5) we finally received from your agency on July 9, NPS stated that during trail construction "a specialized contractor will test the soil for any evidence of unexploded ordnance."  I'm writing to you (hopefully) following that investigation to ascertain the precise extent of the testing and to ensure that all soil contaminated with munition debris and laboratory waste will be recovered from this heavily used Park Service land ... Consider this letter to be my formal request for any and all results, reports or other documentation produced by the National Park Service and/or its contractors regarding that investigation.  I want to know what type and how much soil contamination was discovered, whether any munitions debris or laboratory waste was found and, most importantly, the precise extent of the area that was examined ... 

Closed Ft.Totten footpath in March & August

There can be no doubt that the shell discovered at Ft. Totten in July 2020 came from the Glenbrook Road munitions burial pit in Spring Valley, Washington, DC.  The most recent explanation for how this transfer happened was documented on page 13 of the March 10, 2020, RAB meeting minutes by Dan Noble: "It is known that the [munitions] debris [from Glenbrook Road] was sent to the Ft. Totten area when the nearby Ft. Totten metro station was being built [in the 1990s].  Soil was needed at the new metro station to level out an equipment yard for the metro contractor.  Some soil was sent to that area and the contractor began to spread the contaminated soil out.”  After speaking to an official from your agency who was present at Ft. Totten at the time of the dumping, Dr. Albright said that the NPS confirmed the contaminated soil was ultimately moved elsewhere ...

FOIA request for NPS records & data

At the March 9, 2021, RAB meeting I asked [program director Dan] Noble (pg. 13) whether he thought the tons of contaminated soil that were moved from Spring Valley could have been “contained in the one-quarter acre where the foot trail is [now located]?”  If the NPS “only surveys the foot trail,” I suggested, "they’re going to miss [contaminated] soil to the east and west.”  Instead of responding to my understandable concern, the FUDS program director deferred to your agency ... As more than one RAB member opined at our July meeting, whether or not the Army Corps cleanup team considers this issue to be within the official scope of their responsibilities, environmental justice concerns are appropriately raised when one of the wealthier residential areas in our nation’s capital secretly dumps its toxic waste in a working class neighborhood east of Rock Creek Park.

Allen Hengst
FOIA Letter to NPS
September 13, 2021

Despite Unrecovered Munitions, RAB Contemplates Dissolution

PSB cleanup will extend into 2022 (pg. 14)

Most of the Spring Valley remedial actions are wrapping up [and] the project teams know what is required to complete the projects ... At the PSB [Public Safety Building] there is still a significant final remedial action effort to excavate into the hillside to remove as much of the debris as possible.  The PSB project may take more time to complete.  At the last RAB [Restoration Advisory Board] meeting, the RAB began to discuss the idea of how the RAB may wish to close out their work on the site.  The RAB may choose to create a document of some kind or simply conduct a final meeting.  If there is a desire to write a final report from the RAB, USACE can assist with drafting the documents.  If the RAB would like to draft documents but keep the effort authorship by the RAB, USACE will understand.  This will be the RAB’s decision on what to do at the end.
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Minutes
May 11, 2020 (pg. 11)

Allen Hengst: When will NPS restart work on the path through Fort Totten to the metro. I understand that work stopped when a World War I ordnance was found, and the soil had to be tested for contaminants.

National Park Service: The NPS anticipates construction of the Fort Circle/Fort Totten Pedestrian Trail, located between Gallatin Street NE and Galloway Street NE, will resume this summer.  Soil testing indicates the trail area is safe for people and animals.  For the safety of the public, the area will continue to be closed off through the completion of the construction project.  To further ensure safety, a specialized contractor will test the soil for any evidence of unexploded ordnance during construction activities.
Q & A
Norton-NPS Town Hall
March 25, 2021 (pgs. 4 - 5)

WWI shell closed trail between Galloway & Gallatin streets

Project manager Dan Noble explained that he believes Sgt. Maurer’s pit was within the footprint of the former house at 4825 Glenbrook Road, and the builder excavated into Sgt. Maurer’s pit.  The remaining contamination at the front of the former house represents debris that was pulled forward, moved out of the way, and left behind ... It is known that the debris was sent to the Ft. Totten area when the nearby Ft. Totten metro station was being built.  Soil was needed at the new metro station to level out an equipment yard for the metro contractor.  Some soil was sent to that area and the contractor began to spread the contaminated soil out.  The area is Park Service land, lent to the Metro Authority for the construction project.  The Park Service employee overseeing the land ordered that the contaminated soil be taken away.  Eventually, the contaminated soil was taken away and the final destination of the soil is unknown.
Spring Valley RAB
Meeting Minutes
March 10, 2020 (pg. 13 - 14)