Stop Weapons Testing in the Potomac River!
By Pat Elder
February 8, 2024
A high-speed camera captures the U.S. Navy’s Railgun projectile at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Virginia.
The rocket flies at speeds up to Mach 7 (5,370 MPH) down the middle of the Potomac River. The Morgantown power plant in Charles County, Maryland is shown in the background. Start at 1:11.
Oystermen routinely report finding bombs and explosive fragments littered along the bottom of the Potomac River south of Washington. - Chesapeake Bay Magazine
Last year the Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit against the Navy in U.S. District Court in Maryland charging that the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren has been violating the federal Clean Water Act by firing munitions and releasing chemicals into the Potomac River south of Dahlgren, VA, without a discharge permit.
The suit claimed, “If the Navy were ordered to secure a Clean Water Act permit for its Potomac River weapons testing activities, that would protect the recreational, aesthetic, and commercial interests of Plaintiffs’ members, because a permit would impose restrictions on the Navy’s discharges to ensure compliance with water quality standards in the river.”
On January 10, 2024 the Navy settled the lawsuit and agreed to apply for a pollution discharge permit from the state of Maryland. This a victory, although a lot depends “on whether the Maryland Department of the Environment will include adequate protections in the permit,” Dean Naujoks with the Potomac Riverkeeper Network told Inside Climate News.
We can hope this is the case, although Maryland’s Department of the Environment has a lousy track record regulating the U.S. Navy’s environmental crimes in the state. The agency historically acts as a rubber stamp for the DOD’s actions in Maryland so there is skepticism that anything will change.
Every year the Navy fires about 4,700 large-caliber projectiles from Dahlgren and sets off more than 200 explosions in the river. It also releases substances over the water 70 times a year to simulate chemical or biological attacks.
From 1918 to 2007 the Navy fired nearly 70,000 rounds of ammunition per nautical square mile in a 2.3 square mile area of the testing range called the ‘dense zone’—just downstream of Swan Point, Maryland and Colonial Beach, Virginia.
Let’s try to put this into perspective. 70,000 rounds of ammunition per nautical square mile: A nautical square mile is 6,076’ by 6,076’ or 847 acres. 70,000 projectiles on 847 acres - That’s almost 83 bombs per underwater acre. This is a catastrophe for aquatic life.
This is a monumental environmental crime. The Navy must stop its destruction of our river and the life it sustains. Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division should be shut down and the Navy must repair the environmental catastrophe it has caused. Where is the indignation?
The Potomac Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council have brought needed public attention to this issue, although little is likely to change in Maryland, which has jurisdiction over the Potomac River to the Virginia shoreline.
Naujoks said, “We’re not trying to stop the activity. We’re just saying you should have permits and limits on what you’re putting in the river.” We all want to see strong regulatory measures built into the pollution discharge permit, but the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has failed to protect Maryland citizens from the most egregious and environmentally destructive behavior perpetrated by the military in the state. Ongoing releases of deadly toxins at naval facilities like nearby Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center, the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, the Webster Field Annex, and the Naval Research Laboratory Chesapeake Bay Detachment in Chesapeake Beach are generally greeted by MDE with a wink and a nod.
The MDE allows the public to consume toxic fish in the Potomac River poisoned by Joint Base Andrews and the other bases. The MDE protects its corporate and military clients at the expense of public health and the environment.
The Navy knows the harm it causes to human health and Maryland’s environment. The Navy is determined to continue what it’s doing while it hopes and expects the public attention will go away.
It won’t be too tough for them considering ATSDR’s clean bill of health.
The agency couldn’t find any dangers associated with the Navy’s weapons testing in its 2006 report: “ATSDR did not identify any exposure where local community members were exposed to NSF Dahlgren-related environmental contaminants that would be expected to cause any health concern, including cancer. The on-base drinking water system meets or exceeds federal requirements for monitoring and treatment. Neighboring residents relying on private groundwater wells are unlikely to be impacted by base-related contaminants. Anglers and hunters who follow base and VDH recommendations are unlikely to be exposed to harmful levels of environmental contaminants from fish, shellfish, of game captured from the base or it’s access points to the river.”
The United States government is telling us not to worry.
In March of 2023 the Bay Journal reported, “Jennifer Erickson, a Dahlgren spokeswoman, said in an emailed response to written questions that 74% of the projectiles fired downriver are inert and that most of the live ordnance is fused to explode above the water.
Are we expected to take comfort in the statement that most munitions explode in the air? The smoke from these explosions is toxic and it drifts over our neighborhoods.
The Navy’s spokeswoman also said that rounds that don’t detonate bury themselves in the river bottom, and that the “small quantities” of chemical simulants released “would undergo immediate dilution.” Previous assessments by the Navy concluded such tests produced “no observable environmental effects,” she said.
In the real world the “rounds” that don’t detonate are often most problematic. The salty-brackish water and river bottom consume everything over time. It is madness to suggest that chemical simulants released will undergo immediate dilution. If we could only live in a world like that! Chemicals used in explosives contaminate the water, sediment, aquatic life, and human life. Many compounds settle on the river bottom and pose a threat to our health when they are disturbed by oystering and bottom fishing.FTop of FormBottom of Form
The Navy says it has “performed analysis using the best available science to determine the activities conducted on the Potomac River Test Range do not significantly impact human health or the environment.”
Significantly? They know how to argue these things in court. Of course, they can always claim “sovereign immunity” if states or individuals sue them. The military has claimed sovereign immunity in US District Court cases when they’ve been sued for damages. That means they claim the right to poison us in the name of national security.
The Navy has reported surface water at Dahlgren contaminated with mercury and compounds at 3.8 million parts per billion (ppb) and 1,000 ppb of Trichloroethylene. They reported 9.6 million ppb of lead in the water.
The groundwater on the base contains Uranium 234 at 1,070 ppb. The soil is also contaminated with Thorium 234 at 200 ppb and Uranium 238 at 500.0 ppb.
The Navy apparently feels that these levels of toxicity do not “significantly” impact human health or the environment.
The Navy’s press release sounds convincing, “The Department of the Navy is committed to environmental stewardship and looks forward to working with the Maryland Department of the Environment as they make a permit determination under the Clean Water Act for activities conducted on the Potomac River Test Range.”
On Jan. 10, the Navy agreed to apply for a pollution discharge permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment within 30 days. Let’s see how long it takes the MDE to slap something together. In the meantime, the Navy’s destruction of the river will be allowed to continue.
“We made a strategic decision at the beginning of the case that we would not try to shut the Navy’s operations down. We’re not aware of any clear information about the extent of harm caused by the Navy’s activities,” said Bob Dreher, the lead counsel for Potomac Riverkeeper.
Dreher and his colleagues were successful in compelling the Navy to apply for a discharge permit under the Clean Water Act. It is a welcome development. The environmental community must keep an eye on the MDE.
The bottom of the Potomac River is riddled with 155 mm gun shells similar to these.
Firing, dropping, and discarding munitions into waterways and the ocean have long been widespread practices of the U.S. military. It’s only relatively recently that elements of DOD, particularly SERDP-ESTCP (Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program & The Environmental Security Technology Certification Program) have taken its environmental impact seriously.
Numerous bombs, shells, rockets, grenades, and other items are lying on the surface, resting underwater, or buried beneath soil and sediment along the Potomac River south of Washington. They may explode if disturbed.
Despite what the Navy, MDE, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) tell us, the chemical constituents and explosive byproducts of these munitions pose a toxic threat to public health and natural ecosystems as they move through the environment.
Furthermore, munitions constituents may contain as much as one or two percent heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, nickel, copper, and barium. (See the list of heavy metals and other contaminants below.) While explosive compounds may disappear upon combustion, metals remain and may form a variety of compounds. Simply put, upon detonation the metals in munitions go into the air, onto the land, or into the water. Over a period of time, measurable quantities accumulate in the environment.
Any sampling plan should estimate those quantities and attempt to determine where they all went. That is, there should be a mass balance analysis.
Thanks to Lenny Siegal with the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO) for his insight.
This table from Naval Sea Systems Command identifies the weight of explosives in the Potomac River:
Ammonium Picrate is toxic to fish in very low concentrations. It is poisonous if swallowed or if it has contact with the skin, according to NOAA.
RDX is classified as a possible human carcinogen by U.S. EPA. People may be exposed if they breathe RDX fumes from explosions. Studies have reported adverse gastrointestinal, hematological, hepatic, and renal effects in people who have been exposed. (NIH) People may also be exposed to RDX by drinking contaminated water or by touching contaminated soil.
TNT - Considerable amounts of weaponry containing TNT have been fired into the bottom of the Potomac River. The metal shells of these munitions are corroding. TNT can have sublethal and chronic effects in aquatic biota, especially in organisms that live directly on the sea floor or in subsurface substrates. (NIH) Unfortunately, these chemicals may also enter the marine food chain and directly affect human health upon consuming contaminated seafood. Human effects have been noted in a variety of tissues and organ systems including the brain, liver, blood, reproductive organs, kidneys, urinary bladder, and eyes. It is mutagenic and carcinogenic.
Algal scum turns the water green near Dahlgren, along the shoreline of the Potomac River at the Route 301 bridge, September 2, 2003. - MDE
Phosphorus - Too much phosphorus can cause increased growth of algae and large aquatic plants, which can result in decreased levels of dissolved oxygen in the Potomac, decimating aquatic life.
Ethylbenzene has been found in fish samples around the world. (NIH) The toxin has been clearly associated with: Acute Kidney Injury, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects and Respiratory Tract Infections,
Tetryl can enter your body if you breathe it in the air, drink it in water, or get it on your skin. Tetryl is linked to contact dermatitis and Asthma.
Toluene - Fish and other aquatic organisms are sensitive to both acute and chronic toluene exposure. Toluene bioaccumulates in fish (EPA). It is associated with a several dozen diseases, including Cerebral Palsy, Chromosome Aberrations, Cognition Disorders, Prenatal Complications, Neoplasms, and Neuroectodermal Tumors.
The environmental impact of the Navy’s weapons testing on the Potomac River
is more dangerous than the Navy and Maryland are telling us.
The Navy is investigating 82 radioactive sites at Dahlgren. Depleted uranium munitions were tested on the banks of the Potomac and highly radioactive materials were almost lost in the river. Atomic bombs with a yield surpassing the “Little Boy” that destroyed Hiroshima were assembled and stockpiled here. The place is still radioactive. The Navy reported that groundwater contains Uranium 234 at 1070.0 ppb. The soil is also contaminated with Thorium 234 at 200 ppb and Uranium 238 at 500 ppb.
Elsie, Dahlgren’s atomic bomb. Dahlgren developed a
light case (Light Case LC.. Elsie.) for the atomic bomb.
The ultimate ELSIE design at Dahlgren was the Mark 8. It was much lighter than the Mark 1 “Little Boy” at only 3,230 pounds (Little Boy was 9,000 pounds) and measured in at 9.7 feet and long and 14 inches in diameter, half the diameter of Little Boy. Its yield was probably 20-50 kilotons.
The public should understand more about the contamination freely flowing from military bases in Maryland. It is possible to search the Pub Chem site of the National Institutes of Health for the contaminants found at Dahlgren listed below. Searching for a particular toxin will bring you to a page that will allow you to search for associated diseases and disorders. It is possible to perform a kind of “digital triage” by performing these searches to identify environmental contaminants that may cause someone’s illness.
Bombs in your backyard – ProPublica
Data provided by DOD
List of Toxins in Surface Water at Dahlgren
with highest concentrations reported
Acetone 100,000.0 ppb
Allyl chloride 93,5000.0 ppb
Aluminum 1,110,000,000.0 ppb
Aluminum phosphide 981,000.0 ppb
Antimony and compounds 29,300.0 ppb
Arsenic (cancer endpoint) 11,200,000.0 ppb
Barium and compounds 110,000,000.0 ppb
Beryllium and compounds 1,500.0 ppb
Bis(2-chloroethyl)ether 1,000.0 ppb
Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) 26,000.0 ppb
Butyl benzyl phthalate 10,000.0 ppb
Cadmium and compounds 2,000.0 ppb
Carbon disulfide 13,000.0 ppb
Chromium (total) 23,200.0 ppb
Copper and compounds 21,800,000.0 ppb
DDD 660.0 ppb
DDT 100.0 ppb
Dichlorobenzene, 1,4- 1,000.0 ppb
Ethyl benzene 4,400.0 ppb
Fluoranthene 500.0 ppb
Heptachlor 90.0 ppb
Lead 9,600,000.0 ppb
Manganese and compounds 532,000.0 ppb
Mercury 3,800,000.0 ppb
Methylene chloride 4,000.0 ppb
Nickel and compounds 12,300,000.0 ppb
Phenanthrene 600.0 ppb
Pyrene 700.0 ppb
Selenium 4,000.0 ppb
Silver and compounds 4,100.0 ppb
Tetrachloroethane, 1,1,1,2- 3,000.0 ppb
Trichloroethylene (TCE) 1,000.0 ppb
Vanadium 76,500.0 ppb
Zinc 96,200,000.0 ppb
The Downs Law Group helps make this work possible. Their support allows us to research and write about PFAS contamination in Virginia, Maryland and around the world.
The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals in the U.S. and abroad with a high likelihood of exposure to trichloroethylene, PFAS, and other contaminants.
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If you spent time in the military and you think you or your dependents may be sick as a result of your service, think about joining this group to learn from others with similar issues.
Are you interested in joining a multi-base class action lawsuit pertaining to illnesses stemming from various kinds of environmental contamination? Contact James Bussey at busride1969@hotmail.com
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