[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, FUDS: Another Spring Valley (DC) pit

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Army Corps Finds New WWI Chemical Site In DC Yard

by The Associated Press
National Public Radio
April 16, 2010

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has uncovered what could be a fourth 
major disposal area for World War I-era munitions and chemical weapons 
in the nation's capital.

Digging was suspended April 8 as a precaution at the site in the pricey 
Spring Valley neighborhood near American University after workers pulled 
smoking glassware from the pit, project manager Dan Noble said Thursday.

Preliminary tests show the glassware was contaminated with the toxic 
chemical arsenic trichloride. Officials will review safety procedures 
before digging continues.

Workers also discovered a jar about three-quarters full of a dark liquid 
that turned out to be the chemical agent mustard. It was used during 
World War I as a weapon that caused blisters, breathing problems and 
vomiting.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126040520&sc=emaf

--


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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