On his ANC website, ANC Commissioner Zachary Ammerman (5A09) has been detailing his efforts to work with the office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton to request that the National Park Service (NPS) do more extensive soil testing in Fort Totten Park. Congresswoman Norton sent a letter to NPS on February 7, 2023. WTOP also reported on Congresswoman Norton’s letter.

Recall, NPS informed ANC 5A and the Ward 5 Council office in 2017 that the agency was conducting soil testing in an area on the west side of Fort Totten Park that had been used for staging by Metro to build the green line in the 1990s. NPS stated it was testing “out of an abundance of caution” after being informed that fill dirt used to rehabilitate the land was brought from the toxic WWI testing site at Spring Valley. NPS said then that they were not too concerned about Fort Totten Park because of the topography of the land and because the staging area where the dirt was brought and eventually removed was not near any waterways or pedestrian access points. NPS later informed the ANC and the Ward 5 council office of the results of that testing. NPS distributed a community engagement handout to the ANC 5A commissioners and Ward 5 Council office but residents did not receive a copy. NPS also later sent the commissioners and the Ward 5 Council office a copy of the report but that information was not passed along to residents.

Fast forward to 2020 when NPS began construction of a formal trail between Gallatin and Galloway Street west of South Dakota Avenue. This is an area of the park east of the station tracks. NPS halted construction after contractors found an unexploded WWI shell along the informal path. NPS contracted for soil testing.

At the time, I noted that it was strange that a WWI shell would be found in an eastern part of the park when the staging that NPS had been concerned about was in the western part of the park.

As this testing was underway, residents and I reached out to Congresswoman Norton’s office and NPS about our concerns both during a quarterly NPS town hall meeting and over email. Congresswoman Norton’s office never addressed the questions during the town hall meetings and simply forwarded the questions to NPS. NPS said that there was no evidence that soil from Spring Valley was brought to the area on the eastern side of the park. NPS said that the soil was confined to the western part of the park and had been removed. Residents and I inquired exactly which areas of the park would be tested. Testing was confined to just the area along the planned trail (full study). NPS restarted construction on the trail in July 2021 after “negative test results.” NPS halted construction again after encountering infrastructure for the green line tunnel. NPS is now supposed to be finishing up design for an alternative location.

Local media reported on the possible connection between the ordnance on the trail and the Spring Valley site in 2022. Congresswoman Norton issued a press release about her “concern” over this discovery and held a meeting with the US Army National Corps of Engineers, Metro, and NPS. NPS stated during meetings that the testing found no evidence of any other unexploded ordnances nearby and found no contamination of the soil beyond that expected of parks in urban areas. NPS stated they would do more test kits and “monitor the area.”

ANC Commissioner Ammerman put together a timeline of events and requested of Congresswoman Norton’s office that NPS conduct more extensive testing. We will see how NPS responds to Congresswoman Norton’s request. What is clear is that this whole thing could have been dealt with properly a long time ago.