WTOP is reporting that there may in fact be a connection between the munition found on the planned Gallatin/Galloway Street NE pedestrian trail previously under construction and the Spring Valley WWI munitions site in Northwest DC. Metro used fill dirt from Spring Valley to remediate National Park Service (NPS) parkland in Fort Totten Park during construction of Metro’s green line. Recall that in December 2020, I posted about this possible connection. I raised the issue again at one of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s quarterly NPS meetings on March 25, 2021. The Congresswoman’s staff did not get to my questions during the meeting, but I followed up directly with NPS the next day.

I asked Rock Creek Park Superintendent Julia Washburn by email:

1. What is the timeline for getting test results and action regarding the unexploded ordnance found on the pedestrian trail under construction in Fort Totten Park near Fort Totten metro station. On Dec. 16, 2020, NPS informed ANC 5A that “[t]he contractor has just recently notified us that all test results are expected later this winter, no later than mid-January 2021.” It is now approaching April 2021. Is work actually being done to address this issue. It seems as if the timeline keeps getting pushed back.

I would also add that I am concerned about the possibility that the ordnance may have resulted from contamination from soil brought in from Spring Valley during remediation of the parkland during Metro construction. I know that NPS notified the ANC in 2017 about this issue and stated in 2018 that there were no concerns, but I do not believe the ANC received any official report and I question whether NPS knows the scope of the spread of the soil from Spring Valley in the park. Can NPS provide comment on that? 

Rock Creek Park Deputy Superintendent Frank Young responded by email on April 1, 2021:

We anticipate having the testing done soon. The park is consulting with the Army this week or next on the testing results. We will follow up with the ANCs when this consultation is completed.

There is no evidence that there are any soils from Spring Valley present in the area between Gallatin and Galloway Streets NE. All soils from Spring Valley on the west side of Fort Totten (along Farragut Street NE) were removed by WMATA several decades ago.

After discovery of the ordnance in July 2020, NPS halted construction of the trail and hired a contractor to do testing. I asked at that time if the contractor was only testing the soil where the pedestrian trail was going to be located or if they were taking samples elsewhere in the park as well. Unclear. In any case, NPS restarted construction in July 2021 after “negative test results.” NPS then paused construction again in September 2021 after “discovering” infrastructure associated with the green line tunnel where the path was under construction. NPS hired a contractor to survey the area (again) to find a more suitable location for the trail. NPS stated at ANC Commissioner Gordon Fletcher’s 5A08 single member district meeting in November 2021 that they would get back to ANC 5A after the new year likely in January with updates about where the trail will be located. NPS was not on the agenda for the ANC’s January 2022 meeting.

So now today February 9, 2022, we have reporting that there may be a connection between the munition found on the trail and the Spring Valley site, NPS giving the media the same comments they gave me last year, and Congresswoman Norton belatedly calling for a joint meeting of the Army Corps of Engineers, NPS, and Metro. Interesting