Spring Valley. A neighborhood where the average home price is $3,124,250. Home to media personalities like Ann Compton, lawyers such as Brendan Sullivan, all manner of politicians, CEO's of corporations that make more money than some nations, "elite" Washingtonians, past presidents such as George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon , the homes of such ambassadors as those from South Korea, Spain, Qatar, Yemen, and Bahrain... and chemical weapons leftover from World War I.During that Great War Spring Valley was used as a chemical weapons testing ground. Long before residents of the affluent and elite neighborhood provided complimentary valet parking for their house party guests the green hills and tall trees of Spring Valley were subjected to chemical munitions such as mustard gas, arsine, and lewisite.
Apparently in 1993 a building contractor digging a ditch found some 141 ordnance items... on the property of the South Korean ambassador. I'm curious as to what kind of compensation and fallout came from that. The ambassador's house and grounds are gorgeous. Since then the Army Corp of Engineers has found chemical munitions in burial pits on adjacent properties- which is what brought the whole thing to my attention.
Natalie and I drive through Spring Valley at least twice a day as it is the neighborhood right next to us and where Washington College of Law is. Past the ambassador's beautiful house, past a Spanish ambassadorial house, and past the houses that have been cordoned off with fence and plastic tarps while the Army Corps of Engineers meticulously search for more chemical warheads.When I first past those $3 million houses they were just being fenced off. I thought they were undergoing massive renovation before winter sets in (that happens around here.) But each day as I past I would see a new sign go up warning of what to do in case of a chemical emergency, manned police cars parked outside the properties, an ambulance permanently parked in the one open driveway. Then the Army Corp of Engineer's sign went up and I noticed MPs in ACUs in the neighborhood where you normally would see black suits and Harvard T-shirts.
Obviously there hasn't been a massive release of mustard or lewisite agents from the extraction of the munitions but the possibility exists and that is a frightening prospect. The soil surrounding Spring Valley which includes American University has been highly contaminated in certain areas with arsenic forcing its removal. 140 properties in the area need their soil removed because of contamination from chemical weapons testing during World War I.How much more would be contaminated in the present if there are more munitions yet to be unburied that release from warhead failure? Hopefully that does not happen.
An interesting occurrence and ongoing chemical weapons cleanup project in our backyard and in one of the most influential neighborhoods on the planet.
The fault in all of this lies in the marketing of the area for residential development. Was it "government cover-up?" Highly unlikely. More likely than not it was the drive of capitalism and real estate that brushed aside any (if any) concerns at the time in the past when Spring Valley became the neighborhood that it is. A forgotten munitions testing ground from a time of war long ago in the history of Washington DC.
Of course there are other questions that are begging to be asked in all of this. Concerns to analyze and "what ifs" to pose.
Above it all though is the work of those who are now and have been cleaning up the fatal danger of those forgotten weapons. As winter moves in and their work continues I hope they stay as safe and as meticulous as they have been to this point.
Today I saw a man in a full NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) suit as I drove past. A poignant accent to the very real danger in such a beautiful community.Even in the middle of an area where lives are deemed more valuable than the majority of the population the horrors of our very own chemical weapons are a fatal reality. Not terrorists. Not extremists. Our own forgotten weapons of horror and terror meant to be used on people.
Read more about the cleanup operation here:
http://www.nab.usace.army.mil/projects/WashingtonDC/springvalley/overview.htm
http://www.cma.army.mil/successstories.aspx#3
Sign and munition photos from the USACE website
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