Norton Gets Answers for Spring Valley Community at Hearing Today

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a senior member of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, today got answers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) to her questions about a munitions site clean-up and placement of a groundwater testing well in the Spring Valley neighborhood in Northwest D.C., at a subcommittee hearing. Following a Norton question highlighting that more hazardous materials have been found at a particularly contaminated property where the Army Corps has demolished a home and is excavating, the Army Corps agreed to reevaluate their prior refusal to cover the cost of relocating a family in Spring Valley who lives directly across the street from the property, has small children and rented an apartment on top of their mortgage in order to avoid the contamination. Norton asked another question regarding the Spring Valley community concern about an Army Corps proposal to dig a well to trace groundwater contamination in an area of the park that residents have helped create and maintain. The Army Corps agreed to work with the community on a more suitable site for the well, such as a road or another appropriate location.

“I appreciate the Army Corps for directly addressing my questions and agreeing to reevaluate their prior decisions that could have detrimental effects on the Spring Valley community,” said Norton. “I will continue to monitor both situations, but today was an encouraging step in the right direction.”

There was not enough time for Norton to ask an important question regarding flooding here and construction of the levee at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. However, she submitted a Question for the Record, to which the Army Corps is required to respond. She asked if the Army Corps would complete construction of the levee by the end of summer 2014, as they announced last year after a long contracting delay in the midst of construction. The 17th Street levee, which Norton secured $5.8 million in federal stimulus money to build to protect the National Mall and surrounding neighborhoods from flooding, is a key part of the Washington, D.C. Local Flood Protection Project. Norton said its completion has become increasingly urgent because of unprecedented storms in the East Coast, such as Hurricane Sandy.

Last year, Norton wrote a letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lieutenant General Thomas Bostick, urging him to temporarily relocate the family in Spring Valley because they have very young children, ages 2 and 6, living directly across the street from property where the Army Corps has demolished a home and is excavating. The Army Corps had already removed a large amount of hazardous substances from the property at 4825 Glenbrook Road at the time of Norton’s letter, but full excavation is necessary because a 2011 Army Corps remediation investigation report indicated that chemical weapons-related debris are likely buried under the house. However, now, because of the amount of additional hazardous material found, the project’s projected completion date has been pushed back six months, from December 2014 to June 2015. Meanwhile, no action has been taken by the Army Corps to relocate the family.

The Army used Spring Valley in Northwest D.C. as the major U.S. chemical weapons testing and development site during World War I. Norton has been working with the Army Corps since 1993 to clean up the site, where numerous toxins, including arsenic, lewisite, and mustard gas, have been found. Unlike most Formerly Used Defense Sites, Spring Valley is the home of a major university, American University, which has more than 12,000 students, and is located in a densely populated residential area.

Published: April 2, 2014