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Environmental Dangers
The following serious problems posed by the WWII Memorial have received little or no attention from the government agencies charged with building the memorial -- the memorial sponsor, the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the National Park Service (NPS), and the General Services Administration (GSA):
FLOODING AND PUMPING
- The WWII Memorial will be built in a 25 year flood plain and will be prone to frequent and sometimes catastrophic flooding;
- The subterranean memorial will require constant pumping of water under the foundations in order to maintain its structural integrity and prevent invasion of water;
- That water, and the excess waters accumulated during heavy rains and floods, will be pumped either directly into the Tidal Basin or into the city sewer system and the Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant;
- Global warming will only aggravate the flooding problem in coming years.
CLEAN WATER AND HEALTH
- The soils and groundwater at the Rainbow Pool site are contaminated with high concentrations (above EPA safety levels) of arsenic and other toxins. The Army Corps of Engineers failed to find arsenic in its 1997 report. (This part of the Mall west of the Washington Monument is composed of fill that was dredged in the 1880s and 90s from the Anacostia and Potomac river canals at the Navy Yard, which is an EPA Superfund site.)
- Contaminated soil will have to be removed (the Memorial plaza will be 15-foot deep and larger than a football field) and dumped in an as-yet unnamed landfill.
- Contaminated groundwater will be pumped from beneath and around the site during excavation and continually once the project is completed. If it is pumped into the Tidal Basin, any small town downstream should know that their water intake will be affected. If it goes into the storm sewers it will end at Blue Plains. (Anyone who bought a low flow toilet and shower to control volume should know that constant pumping of water at the WWII Memorial will negate any savings.)
TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC ON 17TH STREET
- The crush of visitors and tour buses at the Mall continues to grow, especially at the recent memorials. NPS stated in the 1998 EA that there will be no problem with tour bus traffic, so long as one bus arrives at the Memorial site about every ten minutes. Who will control the extra busses lined up on 17th Street? What is to prevent buses from lining up along 17th Street, blocking the Mall's open vista and interfering with traffic on this major rush-hour artery?
- 17th Street will become a construction site for three years. Who will control traffic in and around the area?
SAFETY AND SECURITY
- A long ramp leads from 17th Street down into the Memorial plaza, with no provision for bollards or other obstacle that would stop a vehicle;
- Large gatherings of people inside the subterranean, enclosed plaza could be subject to a panicked "wave effect" and injury;
- Air vents over the pump stations could become a draw for homeless people;
- In summer the subterranean granite enclosure would trap heat and block breezes, creating an oven-like environment dangerous for children or the elderly;
- A special policeman will be required to patrol the subterranean granite plaza, since the site is distant from the patrol that covers the Lincoln memorial and Vietnam and Korean veterans memorials.
THREAT TO THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND 17TH STREET AREA
- The effect of continual pumping of the site could undermine the foundations of the Washington Monument. The proposed sub pumps at the WWII Memorial would be placed well below the level of the Monument's foundations. The constant pumping would create soil compaction and subsidence;
- The NPS's EA did not evaluate this impact and its possible long-term effect on the whole area around the Monument;
- The EA states that helicopter landings will be moved from the Rainbow Pool to the Washington Monument grounds, however no plan has been approved, nor have the effects of building a new helipad and roads off 17th Street been evaluated.
HISTORIC RAINBOW POOL AND OLMSTED TREES OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL
- The WWII Memorial calls for the destruction of the historic Rainbow Pool which is a completed element of the historic Lincoln Memorial grounds and of the McMillan Plan of 1901-1902, as documented in two NPS reports. ("The Reflecting Pool and Rainbow Pool...are integral components of the designed historic landscape of the Lincoln Memorial" East and West Potomac Parks Historic District Revised National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 1999, p. 15; see also Cultural Landscape Report West Potomac Park Lincoln Memorial Grounds, 1999)
- Earlier this year the Court granted us a Temporary Restraining Order because NPS plans to cut the roots of the historic Olmsted elms within 25 feet, in violation of the 35-foot standard set forth in the 1998 EA, which would lead to the deterioration and death of those trees. Nevertheless, the NPS plans to carry out the root cutting in December.
ECONOMIC IMPACT ON D.C. TAXPAYERS
- The cost of all unforeseen effects that directly impact city streets and facilities - flooding, traffic congestion, new demands on Blue Plains Treatment Plant, need for additional policing and security measures - will be borne by local residents.
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