American University is located on a Formerly Used Defense Site, equivalent in severity to an EPA Superfund Site, and is one of the most contaminated in the country. Spring Valley is also the only FUD Site that encompasses a residential neighborhood and university campus. The Army Corps of Engineers, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense, is tasked with the remediation of Spring Valley.
A health study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in 2006-07 found slightly elevated rates of arsenic-related cancers, and recommended further investigation. The study also recommended investigation of blood, kidney and neurological conditions, which appear in community reports. Despite that D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh requested funding for a follow-up study one has yet to be conducted.
American University was known as the American University Experimental Station during WWI. It was America's first facility for testing chemical weapons.
According to former Spring Valley environmental consultant and expert in weapons of mass destruction Richard Albright, writing in 2007, more than 800 chemical and explosive shells and 1,000 bottles of chemicals and chemical warfare materials have been found on the site. There are more than 53 locations where chemical anomalies have been noticed.
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