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 munitions were recovered last year from the Glenbrook Road Burial Pit on the American University campus. The destruction, originally planned for May 2009, has been postponed to June and possibly July.

During World War I, the American University Experiment Station (AUES) was the birthplace of the Chemical Warfare Service, which conducted research and testing on humans and animals using more than 600 AUES Chemicals List. After the war ended in 1918, many of the Chemicals List and munitions were buried on campus and on the surrounding farmland that became the residential neighborhoods Spring Valley and American University Park.

A small, dedicated group of past and present Spring Valley residents is working with elected officials to increase transparency and oversight of the project, which is now in its sixteenth year. Concerns have been raised that a thorough historical research, investigation, and cleanup has not been conducted. Questions have also been raised about using other equipment to destroy the chemical munitions or moving the chemical munitions destruction out of the residential neighborhood.

For example, 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 chemicals are as toxic as the chemical warfare agents they neutralize. The EDS also generates a hazardous waste stream - 250 to 400 gallons per munition - which must be trucked to a hazardous waste incinerator. 

A possible alternative to the EDS is the Donovan Blast Chamber, which has been safely used in Europe to destroy chemical munitions. The Donovan Blast Chamber does not require toxic chemicals to neutralize the chemical warfare agent. In addition, there is no hazardous waste stream.   

Another option is to move the munitions destruction to the Naval Research Station, a hazardous waste facility, where munitions have been destroyed in the past.

The Army Corps of Engineers has not provided much information to the residents, citing issues of homeland security and possible terrorist activity. We do know that at least one of the munitions to be destroyed 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. An explosively configured arsine-filled round has never been destroyed in a residential neighborhood. Perhaps there is a good reason.

Is this safe? During Operation Safe Removal, in 1993, the vice president was evacuated from his home at the US Naval Observatory, approximately one mile to the south. More than a dozen residents live within 500 feet to the east of next month's proposed chemical munitions destruction. Less than 1,000 feet to the west is the Dalecarlia Reservoir, the District's drinking water supply, and to the south is Sibley Hospital and Grand Oaks, an assisted living facility.

Spring Valley is one of approximately 250 FUDS in the US dealing with contamination from chemical warfare agents and munitions. According to Pentagon sources and state regulators, 3,000 to 5,000 out of 9,000 FUDS require cleanup. At current Pentagon funding levels of just $250 million per year, it will take 80 to 160 years to clean up the known contamination. Some state regulators estimate it will cost more than $200 billion to do a thorough cleanup.

If the Pentagon were to increase FUDS funding to $2 billion a year, these FUDS could be cleaned up in a more reasonable 10 to 20 years, reducing the risk of exposure to several generations and thousands of people. It would also be helpful to increase funding to state regulators and to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to increase oversight.

Complicating the matter, as District of Columbia residents, we don't have a vote in Congress. We would appreciate it if you would contact your elected officials. With more than 9,000 Formerly Used Defense Sites in the U.S., there is probably one near where you and your children live or work. It's amazing to see how the Pentagon and the Army Corps of Engineers respond to a senator's request.

- Kent Slowinski, former member, Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board