Washington Gas agreed to clean up the toxic chemicals that are seeping into the Anacostia from one of its old plants, the D.C. Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday, as the District aims to beautify the river ahead of the Washington Commanders’ move back into the city.
The agreement between the city and Washington Gas requires the company to address the hazardous pollution coming from contaminated soil at the long-closed East Station in Southeast.
The station, which is next to the Navy Yard installation, operated steadily from 1888 to 1948, then intermittently from 1949 until the mid-1980s, according to the National Park Service. Mainly coal and oil were used in the gas-manufacturing process.
The polluted soil contains carcinogens and toxic metal, officials said, causing the chemicals to leach into the water, bubble to the surface and create an oil sheen on the Anacostia.
“For generations, widespread pollution of the Anacostia River has deprived District residents of the use and enjoyment of the river and threatened the health and safety of communities living along its banks,” the District’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, said in a statement.
“Washington Gas has failed to stop dangerous chemicals from continuing to degrade the river, and now it must take action to stop further pollution while the larger environmental investigation and remediation process continues,” he said.
As part of the agreement, Washington Gas must install a floating boom to contain the pollution on the water’s surface, put up new barriers to stop pollutants seeping from the riverbed and riverbank and let D.C. authorities monitor their progress, Mr. Schwalb’s office said.
The energy company risks facing fines if it doesn’t comply with the agreement.
The legal development comes as the D.C. Council gave final approval last week to a new stadium deal for the RFK site that sits on the river’s western bank, just upstream from the old plant.
The future home of Washington’s NFL team is set to anchor a bustling restaurant, housing and entertainment mecca by 2030, when the stadium is scheduled to open. Residents and visitors will also have access to a 30-acre strip of parkland along the Anacostia — making the efforts to clean the waterway all the more prudent.
The Commanders intend to pony up $2.6 for the project, while the District will provide $1.1 billion.
Legislation cementing the stadium deal now awaits Mayor Muriel Bowser’s signature, who has been one of the staunchest advocates for local control of the RFK site for the 10-plus years she’s been in office.
“I promised D.C. residents some time ago that we would get 180 acres on the banks of the Anacostia River, we would make it a mixed-use development and we would deliver jobs,” Ms. Bowser said Monday in a meeting with business leaders in the city. “We would deliver new homes, parks and connections to the Anacostia, and we do indeed have the right partner at the right time.”
President Trump said over the summer that he would block any plans for the stadium deal if the franchise didn’t return to its old name of Washington Redskins, although he hasn’t commented on the deal since. It’s also unclear what Mr. Trump could do to force such a change since the deal requires only congressional approval.