Traces of WWI chemicals found in D.C. neighborhood
Site near former Army chemical warfare station
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently uncovered more WWI chemicals in a Washington, D.C. neighborhood, some of it smoking and fuming.
According to an Associated Press report, the Army Corps had been cleaning up a former Army chemical warfare station at American University and was concluding its work when they uncovered an open flask containing traces of the chemical agent mustard. Also found were lewisite, munition shells and arsenic trichloride.
Although most were found near a former Army chemical warfare station, it was not known if the debris was part of the main dumping site, or in a different disposal area.
The university was used as an experiment station during WWI. Once a farm field, the area is now surrounded by homes built in the 1990s.
The Army Corps has started exploding the ordinances at a holding facility.
