	Background

During World War I, at a portion of American University and in other areas that became the Spring Valley neighborhood in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Army operated a large research facility to develop and test chemical weapons and explosives. In 1993, buried ordnance was discovered in Spring Valley, leading to its designation by the Department of Defense (Defense) as a FUDS currently comprising 661 acres. Hazards Identified and Removed from Spring Valley

Although the U.S. Army twice concluded that it had not found any evidence of large-scale burials of hazards remaining at Spring Valley, an accidental discovery of buried ordnance and subsequent investigations have led to the discovery of additional munitions and chemical contamination. As of April 2002, the Corps had removed about 1,063 cubic yards of contaminated soil from American University. Despite the large increases in the scope and cost of the remaining cleanup work, in April 2002, the Corps shortened its estimate of the time to complete the cleanup by 5 years, projecting completion in fiscal year 2007.
What GAO Found

During World War I, the U.S. Army operated a large research facility to develop and test chemical weapons and explosives in the area that became the Spring Valley neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Buried ordnance, discovered there in 1993, led to the designation by the Department of Defense (DOD) of 61 acres as a formerly used defense site. Through fiscal year 2001, DOD had spent over $50 million to identify and remove hazards at the site. The government entities involved have identified and removed a large number of hazards, but the number remaining is unknown. The health risks influencing cleanup activities at Spring Valley are the possibility of injury or death from exploding or leaking ordnance and containers of chemical warfare agents and potential long-term health problems from exposure to arsenic-contaminated soil. As of April 2002, the U.S. Army estimated that the remaining cleanup activities would cost $7.1 million and take 5 years, but these estimates are unreliable. This testimony summarized a June report (See GAO-02-556).