Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, more than 25 years ago, the Congress charged the Defense Department to identify and then to clean up and remediate properties which the department had owned or leased in order to test chemical munitions. Congress did so because these munitions had left hazardous substances related to the work of the department. There are more than 2,000 such sites in nearly every State, all the Territories and in the District of Columbia.

My concern is with those sites in congested residential parts of our country where there may be dense populations located by formerly used defense sites. A classic case and perhaps the most important--but I'm sure not the only one--was the World War I chemical weapons site for the United States of America. It happened to have been right here in Northwest Washington, DC, in a portion of what is now American University and its surrounding neighborhood known as Spring Valley.

The Army is making good on its duty to clean up these formerly used defense sites (FUDS), including the site in the District of Columbia, but we have no information on the health effects of these leftover chemical munitions. They have been found in people's back and front yards. They have been found, at least here, in people's gardens. Entire houses and garages, as it turns out, unknowingly were built on this debris. The site here in the District of Columbia was found by accident by a utility contractor digging into a trench. The neighborhood had no knowledge. The city had no knowledge of these leftover munitions. Again, I stress that there are surely other sites around the United States, and I cite this case as an example.

This land, in the District of Columbia at least, was used for the research and development and testing of chemical explosives, and it was able to be done in this city because there wasn't any local government, and there wasn't any home rule. I guess, since the city was administered by the Federal Government, they could simply make a munitions testing site in this city. Hundreds of pounds of chemical agents and explosives were developed and released throughout the environment. We have found in the Spring Valley section of the city arsine projectiles, mustard gas projectiles, lewisite projectiles, and other kinds of chemical toxic waste left over from undetonated ordnances.

When World War I was over, the Army simply used the site where they'd been doing the testing as a dumpsite. They buried these munitions right where they were testing. Now, that was the way in which you disposed of these munitions at the time. In the Spring Valley area that is a classic case, there are 1,200 private homes, 30 Embassies and foreign properties, Sibley Hospital, Wesley Seminary. There may be other metropolitan areas that have formerly used defense sites as well. Spring Valley may be the prime target because it is such a well-established neighborhood where chemical agents and munitions were once used.

The amendment requires the Secretary to allocate $1 million to study the human health effects of left-over munitions in congested residential areas. Just as the Department of Defense and the Army have acknowledged their obligation to clean up and remove hazardous substances, especially munitions that have been left behind through their testing, they also have the obligation to investigate whether there are any remaining health effects. That is all we are asking; that there be a study as to whether there are any remaining health effects at this former munitions site from World War I and other sites like it in congested residential areas.

The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.

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