Objections Raised to Neutralizing WMDs Next to Sibley Hospital

Sibley Memorial Hospital

These munitions were recovered over the past two years using redundant safety measures including a blast containment structure, a siren, warning signs and instructions for nearby residents to shelter “in place.” None of these safety measures will be in effect during the munitions destruction. The safety arc during recovery was 740 feet, but the safety arc for the destruction has been reduced to 400 feet. We’re dealing with the same munitions, chemical warfare agents and explosives. Why the 340-foot difference?

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2009)

The Corps moved both chemical and coventional munitions safely from American University through Spring Valley to the Interim Holding Facility north of Sibley Hospital. Each munition is safely packaged in a stainless steel Multiple Round Container, which is designed to withstand an accidental explosion. Now the Army claims it's unsafe to transport these same munitions to the the Naval Research Lab.
Environmental Health Group:
"Proposed Munitions Destruction Behind Sibley Hospital"

Army "Open House" Fields Questions on Proposed Munitions Destruction

Kent Slowinski, Nan Wells, Dan Noble, Lan Reeser & Michael Lent

The Army Corps of Engineers wants to dispose of bombs that could be considered weapons of mass destruction behind Sibley Memorial Hospital, on federal land close to the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which supplies drinking water to D.C. and parts of Northern Virginia ... In 1917 the Army ... blew up bombs in the fields and forests around the [American University] campus. For decades, as the fields were carved into streets with stately homes, the former use stayed a secret, and toxic chemicals stayed buried. In 1993, construction workers bulldozed up bombs. The corps has been digging up weapons pits and cleaning gardens for 16 years ...

Slowinski and ANC Commissioner Nan Wells ... want deeper investigations into the history and the land. They want a health study, which might lead to more chemicals. They are not sure they want the bombs blown up in the neighborhood. "Why not hold off on destruction until they see if they find more munitions?" Slowinski asks. "They can destroy it all -- at the Naval Research Lab."
Harry Jaffe
Washington Examiner
December 9, 2009

30 Days to Comment on Disposal of Chemical Warfare Materiel

Draft EE/CA (November 2009)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed an evaluation of alternatives [EE/CA] for the disposal of discarded military munitions recovered during investigations at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site ... USACE is in the process of investigating and cleaning up contamination resulting from operations during the World War I era. As a result of recent investigation efforts, a number of munitions were discovered. These include recovered chemical warfare materiel as well as conventional munitions that contain explosives ... This Notice serves as formal notification of the availability of the EE/CA for review, and the commencement of the 30-day public comment period.
Public Notice
Washington Post (November 30, 2009)

Several community activists worry about the safety hazards of exploding such dangerous chemicals near a residential neighborhood. "I think it would be much safer destroying the munitions on a military installation where you have some control of the population, instead of less than 500 feet from a residential neighborhood and less than 1,000 feet from the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which is the District's water supply," said Kent Slowinski ... Alma Gates, a member of the Restoration Advisory Board and a former Palisades advisory neighborhood commissioner, said she is confident in the Army's proposal.
Northwest Current
December 2, 2009: pg. 1

Magnetic Survey Flags Anomalies in Woods behind Sibley Hospital

"Red tulips" bloom on Federal property in Dalecarlia Woods

Geophysical surveys are currently underway on 62 acres of federal and District of Columbia property [in the Dalecarlia Woods on the property of the Washington Aqueduct between Dalecarlia Parkway and the reservoir] ... A report of all anomalies detected will be generated for each subset of Dalecarlia Woods survey grids, followed by Anomaly Review Board (ARB) assessment and intrusive investigation ... The Dalecarlia Woods geophysical survey and intrusive investigations will tentatively require an anticipated time frame of 12 to 14 months until completion.
Restoration Advisory Board, Meeting Minutes
October 13, 2009 (pg, 11)

Railroad May Have Moved Munitions to Caves Dug in Hills Next to Dalecarlia Reservoir

The EPA Criminal Investigation Report states that, "It would have been efficient to load a large volume [$800,000 worth of almost anything in 1918-1920 dollars would be a large volume] onto rail cars. There was a railway on the AU campus at the time which traversed elevation changes, particularly to the northwest. The material could have been taken to the elevation drop and a tunnel dug into the side of a hill. The material placed in this 'cave' would then be further concealed by subsequent fill material placed in the low area" ...


A periodical newsletter called The Retort was published by "the Enemies of Germany" at the AUES Research Division. Edition No 1 dated October 6, 1918, states, "Narrow-Gauge Railway Constructed." Besides an interesting event when a car broke loose and almost smashed into Shack #10, which could have been catastrophic, the story contains several interesting details about the railroad. First, as with the Sgt. Maurer "Hole Called Hades," the railroad had a nickname: it was called the "Death's Valley Limited" or "Hillside Express" ... It also indicates that the railroad was completed on the campus six weeks before the war ended, and that an expansion westward was planned ...

One burial area (side of a hill near a railroad track) has been located: Area Of Interest #2, the Rick Woods Pit or the Relic Hunter's Pit ... In the month that followed October 6, 1918, the railway was extended from the AUES campus. What is now very clear is that it eventually reached the grounds of the Dalecarlia Reservoir. What is equally clear is that this expansion could only have been done for burial purposes.
Richard D. Albright
The Continuing Search for Burial Sites
Cleanup of Chemical & Explosive Munitions

AU President Moving In Next Door to "High Probability" Dig

"Pit 3" is within 96 feet of 4835 Glenbrook Road on right

President Neil Kerwin and his wife are in the process of moving back into their 4835 Glenbrook Rd. home, AU’s Director of Community and Local Government Relations Penny Pagano said during a Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board meeting Tuesday night. The move comes despite an ongoing “high priority” investigation for chemical munitions next door at the Army Corps of Engineers’ “Pit 3” dig ... Because the President’s house lies within the Corps’ established 96-foot safety boundary, anyone staying there will have to be familiar with the Corps’ [shelter-in-place] “public protection plan.” The President’s house is the only structure within the 96-foot circle, said USACE Military Response Program Manager Dan Noble.
Christopher Cottrell
The Eagle ~ October 14, 2009

Workers prepare home in shadow of "Pit 3" investigation

Army Will Reveal List of Recovered Munitions Next Month

Col. David Anderson, Army Corps' Baltimore District

In fulfillment of promises made at a June 10 Congressional oversight hearing, "the Army has lifted a security order concealing a list of World War I-era munitions uncovered in Washington's Spring Valley neighborhood. At a community meeting Tuesday, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the list of recovered munitions would be made public next month. D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton brought officials to update residents on the cleanup of chemical munitions from an American University experiment station during World War I. Col. David Anderson, commander of the Army Corps' Baltimore district, says they are still concerned about security but want to be more transparent."
Washington Examiner ~ October 6, 2009

Washington Post Video Offers Glimpse of Geophysical Survey

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been scouring the community and removing munitions and fragments on and off since the 1990s ... Now geophysicists hired by the corps are in Dalecarlia Woods studying the far end of a firing range "fan" that runs 1,550 yards northwest from Herzstein's driveway. There, in the closing months of World War I, the Army fenced in a site where it tested an array of mortars designed to fire chemical weapons, officials said ... The search was recently extended to Dalecarlia Woods, near the Dalecarlia Reservoir, which supplies water to more than a million people in the region.
Washington Post
October 6, 2009: pg B-1

Student Newspaper Knocks University's Lack of Transparency

For 16 years, the university and the Army Corps have been digging for World War I-era munitions. The backstory is that this campus was a serious chemical warfare research center from 1917 to 1918 ... Every student at this university should be aware of these issues. Every AU applicant should, too. The university should open its archives and provide students with more information. Transparency must be more than a buzzword considering the severity of chemical hazards on our campus. Students should be skeptical of the notion that AU is doing all that it could be doing.
The Eagle
September 28, 2009

Sunday Walk Revisits Scene of 1918 Chemical Weapons Testing

 Lot 18 excavation behind homes on Rockwood Parkway

"The purpose of the tour is to encourage more historical research, investigation and cleanup here," said Kent Slowinski, who led more than a dozen people on the walk ... Aaron Lloyd, 38, grew up in Spring Valley. Less than a decade ago, his stepfather found munitions buried in the back yard of the home where Lloyd grew up and where his mother had kept a garden. "It's very disturbing," he said. "Someone had to have known about these chemical weapons before 1993." Nan Wells, an advisory neighborhood commissioner from Spring Valley, said she hopes that the tour will help engage the public ... She also hopes that the Army Corps of Engineers, which along with the D.C. Department of the Environment is overseeing the cleanup and destruction of the munitions, will continue to fund the project. For fiscal 2010, the Corps has allotted $11 million to the cleanup effort. The number drops to $3 million in fiscal 2011 and $500,000 the following fiscal year.
Yamiche Alcindor
Washington Post
September 21, 2009 (pg. B-1)

Nan S. Wells, ANC Commissioner 3D03

During the tour, EcoSense members heard details about the Spring Valley FUDS - one of more than 5,000 contaminated sites in the United States once used by the military that require cleanup. The Spring Valley FUDS holds the unique distinction of being the only site with both chemical warfare agents and munitions in a residential neighborhood and on a university campus ... Kristin Kozlowski, a graduate student in AU's Public Anthropology program, said the information came as a surprise. "It's pretty shocking. I didn't know any of this previously," she said. "I hadn't seen this in any literature from campus or anything." 
Christopher Cottrell
The Eagle
September 27, 2009

Vapor Containment Tents Going Up Around Glenbrook Road House

Investigations are currently paused at the ‘Pit 3 Area’ property as a result of the early August recovery of a flask containing a small amount of the chemical agent mustard ... As a precautionary measure, vapor containment tents will be constructed over three test pits where there may be additional intact laboratory glassware. Based on the findings of the excavations in these three test pits, the team along with our interagency partners ... will determine the approach for completing the remaining investigations and restoration on the property. Construction of these protective tents is expected to start in September.
Spring Valley Project Update
August 2009

The Corps expects further “high probability” digging at the Pit 3 location at 4825 Glenbrook Road to recommence in late October at the earliest, according to Dan Noble, the Military Response Program manager ... Switching back to high-probability procedures at Pit 3 will require additional precautionary measures ... “Our workers will be upgrading to a level B personal protective equipment, working off supplied air, complete skin protection and things like that,” he said.“So ... we have to essentially plan for a high-probability situation, get it through all the approvals we need to get it through, bring back the high-probability crews and get them trained up.”
Christopher Cottrell
The Eagle ~ September 9, 2009

Digging Suspended after Surprise Mustard Discovery at Burial Pit 3

Mustard flask found on August 4, 2009

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District has temporarily suspended its investigation of Pit 3, located at 4825 Glenbrook Road at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site in northwest Washington, D.C., as a result of the discovery of an intact, open flask ... Following established procedures, workers secured the flask and took it to the federal property adjacent to the Washington Aqueduct. The Army’s Technical Escort Unit (TEU) took the flask to Edgewood Arsenal, in Maryland, for analysis on Aug. 5. On Aug.10, the Corps received confirmation that the material in the flask tested positive for the chemical agent mustard.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
August 12, 2009

Aqueduct Gen. Mgr.Thomas Jacobus: "The water is safe"

"Mustard gas in open containers is just as toxic now as it was 90 years ago," says Kent Slowinski, a Spring Valley resident, activist and thorn in the Army's side. "How can the corps say there's no risk?" That's the question D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton posed to corps project manager Daniel Noble on Thursday afternoon. When she heard about the mustard gas, she hauled Noble into her office. Norton has been relentless in keeping the corps on the case and prying information from the Army. "We want them to keep digging," she told me after the meeting. "They are not leaving until we say so."
Harry Jaffe
Washington Examiner
August 14,2009

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is right to note that the Corps twice before has declared the cleanup complete, only to resume work after the discovery of more buried weapons. Officials must do everything they can to make sure this does not happen yet again, and it is essential that they fully investigate the cause of extensive groundwater contamination in the area ... Since munitions were first uncovered in 1993 by unsuspecting construction workers in Spring Valley West, the Army has spent $173 million on cleanup efforts. We're glad Del. Norton is working to ensure that this enormous project is done right
Davis Kennedy
Northwest Current
August 26, 2009

Army Corps Must Issue EE/CA on Weapons Destruction by Year's End

USACE received direction to produce an Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis (EE/CA) report that will identify and evaluate disposal options for both chemical munitions and conventional munitions. After the draft EE/CA has been reviewed by the Army, the EPA, and the DDOE, the EE/CA will be made available for public review during a formal 30-day comment period. During the comment period, we will hold an Open House where the Army will be available to answer questions about the disposal options. Members of the community will also be able to submit comments during the Open House. The EE/CAs for chemical and conventional munitions destruction are expected to be available for public review by the end of this calendar year.
Spring Valley Project Update
July 2009

Security Breached in Perimeter Fence Guarding "Federal Property"

Just behind Sibley Hospital and east of Dalecarlia Reservoir, a 24-hour guard stands at the front entrance to an anonymous looking place known as the "Federal Property."  On the other side of the fence are: 1) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headquarters for the Spring Valley FUDS cleanup (pictured above); 2) the IHF or Interim Holding Facility (about 150 yards north) where recovered chemical munitions are being stored, pending their eventual destruction; and 3) a hilly, 65-acre section of woods where the 16-year hunt for buried WMD's will arguably come to an end next year. Along the northern boundary of this wooded survey area, the perimeter fence runs parallel to the Spring Valley homes on Warren Place, about thirty yards west of Dalecarlia Parkway. During a recent inspection several large openings in the fence were discovered, including the twenty-foot gap (pictured below) caused by a fallen tree trunk.

Munitions Destruction Postponed Yet Again until after Labor Day

Originally scheduled to take place in May, then delayed through July, the neutralization of chemical weapons of mass destruction in Spring Valley has now been postponed "until after Labor Day due to the increased attention the project has recently received ... The Army Corps of Engineers has not provided much information regarding the recovered munitions, citing homeland security issues and possible terrorist activity. The Army Corps has refused to say what chemicals the munitions contain, what chemicals will have to be shipped into the District to neutralize the chemical warfare agents or what hazardous waste material will have to be trucked out of the neighborhood."
Kent Slowinski
The Order of the Earth
(August 2009: pg. 6)

Army Must Divulge Secret Inventory of Recovered Chemical Warfare Ordnance

Asst. Defense Secretary Addison Davis at Oversight Hearing

The [House Subcommittee] members also criticized the corps for refusing to make public a list of the weapons, chemicals and other items it had uncovered at the site. George Hawkins, director of D.C. Department of Environment, said he had been denied access to the list for refusing to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Norton asked the panel for reasons why WWI-era weapons at the site needed to remain classified and demanded a list be provided to the members of the subcommittee ... Addison Davis, the assistant secretary for Army environment, safety and occupational health, said he would provide that list to members and that he would look into whether they could be made public.Environment & Energy Daily
June 11, 2009

Del. Norton: "What is the secret?" [Panel Two 48:35]

"The history of Spring Valley is long and convoluted, but at its core is the Army's decision during World War I to use this area in Northwest, D.C. for the first dangerous tests and experiments with its new and developing chemical weapons program. The decision to locate a major chemical testing facility and then to bury the debris, unexploded ordnance and chemicals on the site was no accident. The District had no local government and its citizens could elect no one to speak for them in the city where they lived, and no one to represent them in the Congress, which collected their taxes. The federal government itself ruled the city using federally appointed commissioners. Thus, the Army was free to do here what it could not do in Maryland or Virginia or any other state close to a residential area."
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
Press Release
June 10, 2009

Explosively Configured 75 mm Arsine Round to be Destroyed Behind Sibley Hospital

At least one of the recently recovered munitions is an explosively configured arsine-filled 75 mm round. Arsine is the most toxic chemical warfare agent found to date in Spring Valley. There is no antidote for arsine exposure ... Arsine-filled rounds have never been destroyed in a residential neighborhood. Perhaps for good reason ... More than a dozen residents live within 500 feet of the proposed chemical munitions destruction site. Less than 1,000 feet away is the District's drinking water supply, as well as Sibley Hospital.
Kent Slowinski
Northwest Current ~ (June 10, 2009: pg. 11)

All previous EDS deployments have been on military bases

Public Hearings Cast Doubt on FUDS Cleanup Timetable

At a public roundtable Monday before the DC Council’s Committee on Government Operations and the Environment ... Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh, who chairs the committee, and several community members said they worry the Army will again depart Spring Valley before all the munitions and chemicals are found and removed. In 1995, the Army decided no more work was necessary and left the neighborhood, only to return after the DC Department of Health conducted an independent investigation and found evidence of arsenic and munitions. “There are growing concerns that the Corps will leave before the job is done, just like it did before,” said Tom Smith, a Spring Valley advisory neighborhood commissioner
Northwest Current
May 13, 2009 (pg. 1)

Spring Valley cleanup project managers face grilling

At the request of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Issues and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 10, Rayburn House Office Building in room 2154 at 2pm, on the proposal of the Army Corps of Engineers to conclude its cleanup of chemical weapons, unexploded ordinances and other chemicals in Spring Valley, a Formerly Used Defense Site in Northwest, a neighborhood in the District ... "No information has been submitted to the public or Congress concerning how the Corps has ascertained that the entire site is clear, safe, and without residual health effects," Norton said.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Press Release ~ (June 3, 2009)

Munition Destruction System Will Use Toxic Chemicals to Neutralize Warfare Agents

Explosive Destruction System (EDS)

Sometime in May 2009, the Army Corps of Engineers plans to destroy World War I chemical munitions in Spring Valley, a nice neighborhood and Formerly Used Defense Site in Northwest Washington, DC ... The Army Corps plans to use the Explosive Destruction System or EDS to destroy recovered chemical munitions. The EDS requires large quantities of toxic chemicals to be trucked into the neighborhood to neutralize the chemical warfare agents. Some of the chemicals are as toxic as the chemical warfare agents they neutralize. The EDS also generates a hazardous waste stream (250 - 400 gallons per munition) which must be trucked to a hazardous waste incinerator.

Kent Slowinski
Former member Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board

Economics Department Moves to Kreeger Building in March 2010

The economics department will move to the Kreeger Building, which has remained vacant since the arts and performing arts departments moved to the Katzen Arts Center in 2005. Kreeger is located on the south side of campus, near the Watkins and Hamilton buildings and Jacobs Field ... Kreeger's renovation, which will gut the building, will begin in July and end sometime between December and February 2010.
The Eagle
April 16, 2009

Area behind Kreeger and Hamilton Buildings

In the last 30 days soil on AU property tested for 106,000 parts per million of arsenic, which means approximately 10 percent of the soil is arsenic, but the finding should not pose a threat to the community, said Gary Schilling, Spring Valley project manager for the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The high arsenic levels were found two-and-a-half feet below the surface of the area in question, which is located between the Hamilton and Kreeger buildings, adjacent to the parking lot.
The Eagle
October 12, 2006

Between Jan. 8 and 11, engineers removed 55-gallon barrels of soil within a 55-meter radius of the excavation pit behind the Hamilton and Kreeger buildings. In total, 160 barrels were collected. The barrels have been taken to federal property behind Sibley Hospital where characterization tests will be taken to determine how to dispose of the soil.
The Eagle
January 22, 2001

Coalition Seeks White House Support for Law Holding Military Accountable for Pollution

Letter with Signatures

More than 80 affected communities and organizations from across the U.S. have joined together to support federal legislation that will require the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to comply with laws designed to protect human health and the environment ... Also known as the "Military Environmental Responsibility Act," the bill seeks to eliminate military waivers to key environmental laws ... The Department of Defense is responsible for more than 31,000 cleanup sites on more than 4,600 active and former defense properties. About one in 10 Americans - nearly 29 million - live within 10 miles of a military site that is listed as a national priority for hazardous waste cleanup under the federal Superfund program.
Common Dreams.org
March 23, 2009

Track H.R. 672

University Stonewalls Army Corps Request for World War I Archives

The Documentary Film

At a standing room only, work-in-progress screening of her forthcoming documentary, Academy-award nominated filmmaker Ginny Durrin chronicled sixteen years of uncertainty following discovery of buried chemical munitions in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Washington, DC. During a panel discussion after seeing Bombs In Our Backyard, US Army Corps historian Mark Baker charged that the University was still blocking access to its own "confidential" archives --- records that could shed light on the existence and whereabouts of additional weapon disposal pits.

Charlie Bermpohl & Mark Baker (3/19/09)

"The university sent memos in December of 2008 to individuals who attended classes or worked in areas near the pit three dig, said Bethany Bridgham, the senior associate general counsel in AU's legal office. Nearby buildings included Watkins, Kreeger, Hamilton and Financial Aid. The memo provided details about AU's safety precautions and gave instructions for setting up sealed shelters in the event of a chemical leak. The university has also set up a Web site at american.edu/usace to keep students updated on the status of the investigations. The last updates on the Web site as of press time were from July 14, when the university gave information about an arsenic soil cleanup operation in the area between Hughes and McDowell Halls."

Film Explores WWI Weapons Under AU
The Eagle
March 23, 2009

Hunt for Missing Munitions Moves to Dalecarlia Woods this Summer

Remnants of narrow gauge railway tracked in yellow (above)

In 2002, USACE was notified of a potential AUES-related discovery in Dalecarlia Woods. Rick Woods reported that in 1984, he discovered and removed a pile of approximately 55 munition items in Dalecarlia Woods while looking for Civil War relics. He also reported that glassware was present. In 2005, a site visit was conducted to identify the location of the Rick Woods Area. Rick Woods accompanied the Spring Valley Area of Interest Task Force and identified the site where he thought the munition items were located, using remnants of a narrow gauge railway as a point of reference. This area was designated as AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area).
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2009 (pg. 8)

Upcoming Geophysical Investigation Plans for Dalecarlia Woods

Anomaly removals for the 3 half-acre grids are tentatively scheduled for summer 2009, followed by complete geophysical mapping of the remaining acreage (54.5 acres) and associated anomaly investigations. The geophysical survey will include the locations of AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area) and AOI 6 (Dalecarlia Woods Impact Area) along with buffer areas surrounding the AOIs. T. Beckwith showed a map of the upcoming geophysical survey area, featuring the locations of the [Livens] Range Fan, AOI 2 (Rick Woods Area), AOI 6 (Dalecarlia Woods Impact Area), the 3 half-acre grids surveyed in 2007, and munition items found during the 1994 Zone 9 investigation. 
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
January 13, 2009 (pg. 10)

Tons of Chemical Weapons Scattered Across Ocean Floor

Summary of DOD Sea Disposal of Chemical Warfare Material

The University of Hawai'i yesterday said it has found "hundreds" of munitions on the ocean floor about six miles south of Pearl Harbor, as it continues to use deep-diving submersibles to search for tons of chemical weapons dumped during and after World War II ... 2,558 tons of chemical agents were dumped at three deep-water sites off O'ahu, including lewisite, mustard, cyanogen chloride and cyanide. 

... A towed detection system was used in 2007 to look at 40 square miles of ocean bottom at the site south of Pearl Harbor from about 150 to 200 feet above the sea floor. Rows of "black dots" that appeared were investigated further to identify munitions that were rolled off the sides of barges.

Honolulu Advertiser ~ (March 10, 2009)

Photo courtesy of SAIC/AMTI

Army Will Neutralize 90-Year-Old WMD's in Woods Next to Reservoir

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to safely destroy all of the chemical munitions recovered at the Pit 3 project area. This involves safely treating and neutralizing the chemical agent fill from the recovered World War I military chemical munitions. USACE plans to use a mobile system, known as the Explosive Destruction System to destroy the munitions on federal property at a site adjacent to our storage facility in the May 2009 timeframe.

The Corps'pondent 

March 2009  

 IHF behind Sibley Hospital (slide #20)

The chemical weapons will be destroyed "in place" at the US Army Corps of Engineeers' Interim Holding Facility (IHF) on federal land around Dalecarlia Reservoir. This land is 410 feet from Spring Valley residences, 860 feet from the Dalecarlia Reservoir and 985 feet from Sibley Hospital.

Spring Valley FUDS
RAB Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2009 (pg. 6 - 7)

DC Environmental Film Festival to Feature BOMBS IN OUR BACKYARD

BOMBS IN OUR BACKYARD (Work-in-progress)

With footage dating back to 1993, the film uncovers a large, local U.S. Army cover-up in the Washington D.C. area of Spring Valley, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of the nation’s capital, where a forgotten WW I "Manhattan Project" is being unearthed. This FUDS (or Formerly Used Defense Site) raises questions of public responsibility, health issues and public safety as officials hunt for our own weapons of mass destruction. Directed and produced by Ginny Durrin.