Re: [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS: Fort Totten Park, DC

Lenny,

Thank you for posting the article about Fort Totten.

Three critical things are missing from Neal Augenstein's WTOP article.

1. Why is Norton's office so focused on removing munitions, especially when the contamination is what makes people sick and kills people? Why hasn't anyone done any soil testing at Fort Totten? Arsenic is one of the main chemicals in many of the chemical warfare agents made at the American University Experiment Station in 1917-1918. Arsenic is persistent. Arsenic doesn't break down in the environment. Arsenic binds with the soil. The arsenic is still there more than 100 years after the US Chemical Warfare Service tested chemical warfare agents at American University. The arsenic and other toxic chemicals are still at Fort Totten.

2. The bigger issue is the 62 truckloads of contaminated soil from the American University Experiment Station. The excavated material from 4825 and 4835 Glenbrook Road first went to the Lorton Landfill, but was rejected due to unusual odors and vapors coming from contaminated soil in the trucks. Then the contaminated soil was taken to Fort Totten, dumped and spread on the National Park Service property, where Dave Murphy, the NPS project manager, became sick, and a bulldozer operator passed out. NPS representatives ordered contactors to remove the contaminated soil, but much of the contaminated soil remained at Fort Totten, because NPS didn't want heavy equipment to damage the root systems of the existing trees. Dave Murphy took three recovered rounds to the NPS Center for Urban Ecology on MacArthur Boulevard, in the Palisades, to show his boss, but according to Dave, his boss told him, "Get them out of here. You don't know what's in them." So Dave put them in the NPS dumpster. Were other munitions recovered by neighbors in Fort Totten?

3. Where is the contaminated soil from American University? No one seems to know. It isn't easy to hide 62 truckloads of toxic, contaminated soil. Some think the contaminated soil was taken to the Boys and Girls Town on Sargent Road in SW. Others think it went to the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant, near the old Defense Mapping Agency and the Capital Crescent Trail. It may have gone to the Riverside Recreation Center, where munitions were found and a building was torn down due to the contamination. Has anyone from Norton's office been in touch with Dave Murphy? Has anyone tested the soil at Dalecarlia, or Boys Town, or Riverside?

Considering the harm these chemical warfare agents can do, there is a lot of unfinished business.

Kent Slowinski

former Restoration Advisory Board member

On Monday, February 3, 2025 at 12:56:07 PM EST, Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> wrote:

DC Del. Norton seeks Trump administration funding for Fort Totten chemical weapon investigation, cleanup

By Neal Augenstein

WTOP TV News (DC)

February 3, 2025

More than 100 years after the end of World War I, WTOP has learned D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is seeking funding from the Trump administration to investigate and clean up any remaining chemical weapons buried in Fort Totten Park in Northeast.

Almost five years after an empty World War I-era chemical weapon shell was discovered by the National Park Service during construction of a trail through the park in July 2020, it’s still not clear whether Fort Totten Park has additional munitions buried in the Ward 5 park, located near the Fort Totten Metro station.

In 2022, WTOP reported the Fort Totten discovery was a prequel to the decades-long Spring Valley cleanup at the former American University Experiment Station. Once dubbed the “mother of all toxic dumps” — the site was used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions.

Since the 2020 discovery in Fort Totten Park, WTOP has learned the munitions were likely trucked across town from one of the most wealthy neighborhoods in Ward 3, of Northwest D.C., to the less affluent Ward 5.

…

For the entire story, see

https://wtop.com/local/2025/02/dc-del-norton-seeks-trump-administration-funding-for-fort-totten-chemical-weapon-investigation-cleanup/

—

Lenny Siegel

Executive Director

Center for Public Environmental Oversight

A project of the Pacific Studies Center

LSiegel@cpeo.org

P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042

Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918

http://www.cpeo.org

Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

_______________________________________________

Military mailing list

Military@lists.cpeo.org

http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org

From:	wks <wksla@aol.com>
Date:	Tue, 4 Feb 2025 07:01:31 -0800 (PST)
Reply:	cpeo-military
Subject:	Re: [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS: Fort Totten Park, DC

Lenny, Thank you for posting the article about Fort Totten. Three critical things are missing from Neal Augenstein's WTOP article. 1. Why is Norton's office so focused on removing munitions, especially when the contamination is what makes people sick and kills people? Why hasn't anyone done any soil testing at Fort Totten? Arsenic is one of the main chemicals in many of the chemical warfare agents made at the American University Experiment Station in 1917-1918. Arsenic is persistent. Arsenic doesn't break down in the environment. Arsenic binds with the soil. The arsenic is still there more than 100 years after the US Chemical Warfare Service tested chemical warfare agents at American University. The arsenic and other toxic chemicals are still at Fort Totten. 2. The bigger issue is the 62 truckloads of contaminated soil from the American University Experiment Station. The excavated material from 4825 and 4835 Glenbrook Road first went to the Lorton Landfill, but was rejected due to unusual odors and vapors coming from contaminated soil in the trucks. Then the contaminated soil was taken to Fort Totten, dumped and spread on the National Park Service property, where Dave Murphy, the NPS project manager, became sick, and a bulldozer operator passed out. NPS representatives ordered contactors to remove the contaminated soil, but much of the contaminated soil remained at Fort Totten, because NPS didn't want heavy equipment to damage the root systems of the existing trees. Dave Murphy took three recovered rounds to the NPS Center for Urban Ecology on MacArthur Boulevard, in the Palisades, to show his boss, but according to Dave, his boss told him, "Get them out of here. You don't know what's in them." So Dave put them in the NPS dumpster. Were other munitions recovered by neighbors in Fort Totten? 3. Where is the contaminated soil from American University? No one seems to know. It isn't easy to hide 62 truckloads of toxic, contaminated soil. Some think the contaminated soil was taken to the Boys and Girls Town on Sargent Road in SW. Others think it went to the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant, near the old Defense Mapping Agency and the Capital Crescent Trail. It may have gone to the Riverside Recreation Center, where munitions were found and a building was torn down due to the contamination. Has anyone from Norton's office been in touch with Dave Murphy? Has anyone tested the soil at Dalecarlia, or Boys Town, or Riverside? Considering the harm these chemical warfare agents can do, there is a lot of unfinished business. Kent Slowinski former Restoration Advisory Board member On Monday, February 3, 2025 at 12:56:07 PM EST, Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org> wrote: DC Del. Norton seeks Trump administration funding for Fort Totten chemical weapon investigation, cleanup By Neal Augenstein WTOP TV News (DC) February 3, 2025 More than 100 years after the end of World War I, WTOP has learned D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is seeking funding from the Trump administration to investigate and clean up any remaining chemical weapons buried in Fort Totten Park in Northeast. Almost five years after an empty World War I-era chemical weapon shell was discovered by the National Park Service during construction of a trail through the park in July 2020, it’s still not clear whether Fort Totten Park has additional munitions buried in the Ward 5 park, located near the Fort Totten Metro station. In 2022, WTOP reported the Fort Totten discovery was a prequel to the decades-long Spring Valley cleanup at the former American University Experiment Station. Once dubbed the “mother of all toxic dumps” — the site was used by the U.S. government for research and testing of chemical agents, equipment and munitions. Since the 2020 discovery in Fort Totten Park, WTOP has learned the munitions were likely trucked across town from one of the most wealthy neighborhoods in Ward 3, of Northwest D.C., to the less affluent Ward 5. … For the entire story, see https://wtop.com/local/2025/02/dc-del-norton-seeks-trump-administration-funding-for-fort-totten-chemical-weapon-investigation-cleanup/ — Lenny Siegel Executive Director Center for Public Environmental Oversight A project of the Pacific Studies Center LSiegel@cpeo.org P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042 Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918 http://www.cpeo.org Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org) _______________________________________________ Military mailing list Military@lists.cpeo.org http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org _______________________________________________ Military mailing list Military@lists.cpeo.org http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/military-cpeo.org
	References [CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS: Fort Totten Park, DC Lenny Siegel (02/03/25)
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