WP: Ft. Detrick Cleanup Finds Debris of Biowarfare

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Ft. Detrick Unearths Hazardous Surprises

Cleanup Finds Debris Of Biological Warfare

An area of the site known as B-11 is covered to prevent leakage. A

soil test boring there released a gas that sent workers to the hospital. (Ricky

Carioti -- The Washington Post)

By on

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 27, 2003; Page B01

Two years of digging at the U.S. Army's Fort Detrick in Frederick has unearthed

more than 2,000 tons of hazardous waste -- including vials of live bacteria and

nonvirulent anthrax that the military did not know was buried there, Detrick

officials said.

Discovery of the pathogens at the former biological weapons research center

turned what the Army thought would be industrial waste removal into the biggest

cleanup in its history. So far, cleanup crews have discovered more than 100

glass vials, many containing live bacteria, and in a few, a nonvirulent strain

of anthrax. The $25 million excavation is due to end this year.

While the Army searches for evidence of biological and chemical weapons in Iraq,

Fort Detrick's cleanup saga shows how, nearly 40 years after the United States

ended such programs at home, it still struggles with their lingering dangers. As

in the Middle East, poor documentation, the passage of time and the programs'

secrecy have slowed the effort.

" You find it, contain it and try to figure out what it is, " said Col. Ball,

Fort Detrick garrison commander. " We're learning, but it's expensive. "

In the tall grass off Kemp Lane in Frederick, deer leap, white tails flashing,

and cows graze nearby. When the animals die, they are autopsied as a precaution.

This is Area B, a 400-acre site that hosted Fort Detrick's target range,

cropland and, in its southwest corner, a network of waste pits. Inside a

specially pressurized and filtered vinyl tent, workers in biohazard suits empty

the dump of its Cold War trash and secrets.

" There's a certain time capsule effect, " Ball said.

Inside the tent, bulldozers operate under blast shields, as pit contents

periodically ignite. The crew breathes through air hoses. The site is

quarantined for two hours at the end of each working day, while the tent's air

is tested for pathogens.

When digging began in April 2001, the Army expected to find mostly lab

chemicals, debris and incinerator ash. But little more than one foot down, the

bulldozers hit upon corroded drums of herbicides and unidentified chemicals,

syringes, lab instruments and strange substances mixed with the dirt. They

plucked out 50 pressurized cylinders of gases and liquids that still await

analysis. Four dissected laboratory rats appeared, still floating in jars of

formaldehyde at least 30 years old.

But what the Army least expected to find were tiny vials of live bacteria like

Brucella melitensis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bacillus anthracis -- a

nonvirulent form of the anthrax bacterium, the potent form of which was brewed

by the gallon at Fort Detrick until 1969.

" The documentation for where this came from doesn't exist, " said Lt. Col.

Archibald, Fort Detrick's director of safety, environment and integrated

planning. After larger objects are removed, the soil and waste are pulverized,

and throughout the process, they are doused with bleach to kill all bacteria.

After testing for pathogens, it is sent in sealed containers to a disposal

facility in Texas.

The few documents that exist say Fort Detrick used the dump from 1955 through

the 1960s, while the post served on the front lines of the U.S. biological and

chemical warfare program. During those years, technicians brewed a pastelike

anthrax " slurry. " Scientists sprayed germs into a giant sphere called " the

Eightball, " testing them on livestock and, occasionally, people. The Crops

Division tested a key ingredient in the dangerous Vietnam War-era defoliant

known as Agent Orange: Traces of it have shown up in the dump.

Hubert Kaempf, 83, supervised Detrick's waste haulers during those years. " We

had one of the finest safety departments in the world, " he said. " But what was

in keeping with safety and sanitary laws then would now be very much forbidden. "

Some waste -- laboratory materials, animal carcasses -- was supposed to be

sanitized, incinerated or both, and the ashes buried. Chemicals were dumped

directly into the pits. From time to time, other government institutions sent

trash to Detrick's landfill. They included, Kaempf said, the Central

Intelligence Agency, which, a declassified government report shows, tested

biological agents at Fort Detrick.

The pits had no linings, as Fort Detrick's landfill does now. There was no

inventory done. Such precautions weren't required.

Then, in 1969, President M. Nixon halted the weapons programs. Fort

Detrick underwent a massive decontamination and became a conventional medical

research center. Today, it houses the National Cancer Institute and the U.S.

Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

" When Nixon shut us down, " Kaempf said, " There was a lot of lab apparatus that

was just dumped. Whatever records . . . I have no way of knowing where they

went. "

In 1991, toxins turned up in Army monitoring wells near the dump. Tests showed

trichloroethylene, or TCE, a metal-cleaning solvent linked to liver and kidney

damage, and tetrachloroethylene, or PCE, a degreasing compound believed to cause

liver cancer.

The land Department of the Environment and the Frederick County Health

Department tested 33 wells at homes near Area B. Half were contaminated with the

two agents, six so badly that the water was unfit to drink. In a few wells,

concentrations of the two chemicals exceeded Environmental Protection Agency

limits many times over. In an Army monitoring well nearest the dump, the

chemicals were so concentrated, " you could smell it, " said ph Gortva, an

engineer who is managing the cleanup.

The post paid to put homes with tainted wells on the city water system. It

briefed politicians and posted detailed information on its Web site. It convened

an advisory board of neighbors, former workers and businesspeople for public

meetings every two months.

" They've been very open and honest, " said Kurtianyk, a real estate agent

on the advisory board. " I was looking for something really secretive, but no. "

Others aren't so sure. Said Helen , another member from Frederick: " We

probably don't know all the ins and outs of what they actually found. "

At one meeting in November 2000, the advisory board asked a representative from

the land Department of Health and Mental Hygiene whether the department

could study cancer rates in the population living downhill from the dump from

the 1960s through the 1980s. He replied, according to the minutes, " that it

would be difficult because data from the land Cancer Registry only goes back

to 1992. "

To secure Pentagon money for a cleanup, Detrick needed to estimate the size and

scope of the project. Archivists located an old map of Area B, noting a series

of four waste pits in a corner known as B-11. A soil test boring released a gas

that sent several workers to the hospital for observation.

By the late 1990s, the restoration team had compiled thick binders with

everything it knew.

" We couldn't rule out that we might find biological material, though we didn't

expect to, " Archibald said. The Pentagon authorized a $5 million project.

Digging began on the largest of the four main waste pits.

Frederick Mayor Dougherty, who had previously taken Fort Detrick to

task about sharing information on the cleanup, remembered a phone call from Ball

a year ago, the day the anthrax turned up. " He said, 'We found a vial . . .' "

she recalled. " At that point, your mind just races. "

Ball remembered thinking, " This could be bad, but let's wait for the testing. "

It showed that the vial contained " a vaccine strain of anthrax, " which could not

cause the disease. The Fort Detrick team found identifying biological materials

a costly, uncertain process.

In a Restoration Advisory Board meeting Oct. 9, Ball " expressed his surprise at

learning that the United States, being one of the most advanced technological

nations in the world . . . does not have the ability to rapidly and accurately

identify biological culture samples, " meeting minutes noted.

Whether in Iraq or Frederick, " there's a body of science we rely on, but there's

a lot of gray area, " said Archibald, the safety director. " The more money you

put into testing, the better the results. "

As retrieving, identifying and destroying biological agents tripled the cleanup

budget, the Pentagon balked, pressing to delay the digging. Ball and land

officials pushed for the funds needed to finish. Digging in the final three pits

started this month and is expected to end by December.

" I think today's Fort Detrick is a good neighbor, " Dougherty said.

Though a spokesman for the EPA said the groundwater contamination has reached

acceptable levels, the Army estimates it will take four more years, and more

money, to clean it completely.

Meanwhile, Fort Detrick is searching for other uncharted dumps.

" You never know what's there until you start digging, " Ball said. " We've

generally ruled out finding a nuclear weapon. "

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

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