[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, FUDS: American University and Spring Valley (DC)

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Chemical hazard buried below AU
For 16 years, AU and the U.S. Army Corps have been digging up campus, 
searching. They should remind students why this project could be crucial 
to their safety.

Editorial
American University Eagle (DC)
September 27, 2009

The fact is, you could be in danger. Your personal health and the 
environmental health of your campus could be at risk and you might not 
know. AU's administration and the United States Army Corps of Engineers 
could be to blame, too. They might know things they aren't telling you. 
They might be withholding information that would make you safer, 
information that you ought to know.

This semester, EcoSense has begun an important campaign to raise student 
awareness about the dangers of buried chemical weapons. More generally, 
the student-run environmental organization has sought to unearth some 
hidden history on campus, which has serious implications for the safety 
and health of the AU community.

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. As The Eagle 
reports in this issue, "The Bureau of Mines and the Army's Chemical 
Warfare Service developed and tested approximately 600 gases at AU 
intended for overseas use. These chemicals included lewisite, mustard 
gas, arsine and arsenic, and were buried in and around AU's campus."


...

For the entire editorial, see
http://www.theeagleonline.com/opinion/story/chemical-hazard-buried-below-au

See also
http://www.theeagleonline.com/news/story/tour-publicizes-chemical-danger
http://www.theeagleonline.com/news/story/corps-dig-finds-lab-debris

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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