New Date: Norton to Hold Hearing on Army Corps Claim Regarding Spring Valley (6/3/09)

Norton to Hold Hearing on Army Corps Claim that Spring Valley is Clean of Chemical Weapons

June 3, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C - At the request of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on Wednesday, June 10, Rayburn House Office Building, room 2154, 2 p.m., on the proposal of the Army Corps of Engineers to conclude its cleanup of chemical weapons, unexploded ordinances and other chemicals in Spring Valley, a Northwest D.C. neighborhood, which is a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS). The hearing will feature testimony from federal and District officials, and community leaders. Scheduled witnesses include Col. Peter Mueller, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer; Gen. Gene Dodaro, Acting U.S. Comptroller; William C. Early, Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; American University President Cornelius Kerwin; Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners Nan Shelby Wells and Thomas Smith; and Greg Beumel, chair, Spring Valley Restoration Advisory Board. Also included will be representatives from the Government Accountability Office and the D.C. Department of the Environment.

The Congresswoman has worked with the residents of Spring Valley, the Army Corps, and the Department of Defense (DOD) on the cleanup for more than 15 years. The Army Corps proposes to destroy the chemical weapons and leave Spring Valley within the next two years, but Congress has not been consulted. "No information has been submitted to the public or Congress concerning how the Corps has ascertained that the entire site is clear, safe, and without residual health effects." Norton said, "The Army Corps left this site before, only to return when more munitions were discovered by accident." The Congresswoman said that, because Spring Valley is the only FUDS in a U.S. residential community, the Corps should not cease its activities without congressional oversight and the appropriate assurance that this area is free of contamination.