Lawsuit Filed Against U.S. Navy For Testing Weapons In Potomac River

DALHGREN, Va. – A pair of environmental groups has sued the U.S. Navy, accusing it of violating the Clean Water Act by firing munitions and releasing chemicals into the Potomac River near Dahlgren, VA, without a discharge permit.

The Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed suit Wednesday (June 21) in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. They allege that the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division has fired more than 33 million pounds of munitions into the Potomac that contain toxic metals, solvents, explosives and other potentially harmful constituents.

The Navy has used the Potomac for more than a century as a proving ground to develop and test small arms, large-caliber guns, explosives, lasers, propellants and targeting systems.  The 51 nautical mile stretch of the river used for those purposes constitutes the nation’s largest over-water firing range, the lawsuit says.

“It’s cause for concern for anyone who uses the river for boating or fishing, for business or recreation,” said Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks, who called the amount of material deposited in the river “staggering.” “We’re not asking the court to shut down weapons testing. We just want the Navy to get a permit under the Clean Water Act to ensure that their activities protect water quality, like everyone else has to do.”

A 2013 environmental impact statement prepared by the Navy said it annually fires about 4,700 large-caliber projectiles from Dahlgren and sets off more than 200 explosions in the river. It also said it releases substances over the water 70 times a year on average to simulate chemical or biological attacks.

The lawsuit comes almost five months after the two environmental groups wrote to the Navy, threatening to sue over the lack of a discharge permit and further accusing it of violating the federal Endangered Species Act by not considering the impacts of its weapons testing on protected critical habitat in the river for endangered Atlantic sturgeon.

The Navy subsequently agreed to study and consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service about whether its activities were harming the sturgeon habitat.  But Naujoks said the Navy refused to apply for a discharge permit and rebuffed the groups’ request that it sample river sediment in the test range for toxic contaminants. A Navy official wrote the groups contending it was not required to have a permit for its testing.

Boaters and watermen have been upset since the beginning of the year after learning the Navy proposed to expand the “danger zone” in the river to conduct “ongoing infrared sensor testing for detection of airborne chemical or biological agent simulants, directed energy testing, and for operating manned or unmanned watercraft.” Their initial concerns about the impact of repeated closures of the area to watercraft during testing increased upon learning more about the volume and kinds of material the Navy had deposited in the river.  Oyster farmers and watermen worried that the shellfish they raise or harvest could be affected.

Getting a discharge permit would help ensure that the Navy’s weapons testing does not violate water quality standards, Naujoks said. It also would require the Navy to monitor the water for impacts and report the results publicly, he added.

A Navy spokesman said the service does not comment on ongoing litigation. Earlier this year before the lawsuit was filed, Jennifer Erickson, a Dahlgren spokeswoman, said that 74% of the projectiles fired downriver are inert and that most of the live ordnance is fused to explode above the water. Rounds that don’t detonate bury themselves in the river bottom, she said.

The Potomac Riverkeeper group released a photo Wednesday that it said it had taken recently showing the river’s surface erupting during a weapons test. It also released a photo taken on a different occasion of a rocket-like projectile a boater said he had hauled up from the bottom.