Common Sense On Weed In D.C.

If only people would take action from Mr. Zuckerberg's words instead of nodding in agreement and turning the page.

Let’s stop wrecking lives over a bag of weed

By Paul Zukerberg, Published: May 24

In a little office on the third floor of Metropolitan Police Headquarters on Indiana Avenue NW is a small window to the future — open to some, closed to many. This is where you get your D.C. “police clearance.”
If you have never been there, that’s because you have never applied for a job flipping burgers, mowing lawns or cleaning restrooms in the District. Room 3033 is the human resources department for the poor, the young and the disenfranchised. The piece of paper you get there — if you have no criminal record — is what you need to land a job. Without it, you’re out of luck.
For 29 years, I have defended clients facing marijuana charges in the District. At every initial appearance, without fail, the judge admonishes the defendant either to stay in school or to hold down a job. In the majority of cases, however, a job is not possible because most employers in this town will not hire entry-level workers who do not have a police clearance.
What crime is increasingly tripping up those looking for work? Possession of marijuana.
In 1995, police in the District arrested about 1,850 people for having pot. By 2011, the number had skyrocketed to more than 6,000. It’s still rising.
To put that into perspective, there are twice as many marijuana arrests in the District as there are students graduating from D.C. high schools each year.
And though marijuana usage rates for blacks and whites are about the same, more than 90 percent of those arrested on pot charges in the District are black. Most of them are young men. By the time their cases are over, months or sometimes years later, they have gone from the unemployed to the long-term unemployed.
For young people denied jobs, crime and public assistance become far more enticing. Marijuana laws create a permanent underclass of people unable to join the legitimate workforce.
The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.” Is it not cruel, and unusual, to deny a young person caught with a bag of weed his chance for entry into productive society? Long experience shows that legitimate employment is the best remedy for youthful indiscretions.
The costs of our current marijuana policy are extraordinary, both for those arrested and for society. We are spending millions of dollars, and tens of thousands of hours’ work by police, enforcing punitive marijuana laws. Add up what is spent on the arrests, booking, forensic testing, prosecution, court-appointed lawyers, judges, marshals and probation officers, and the cost of a single marijuana prosecution can begin to rival the cost of sending a student to college.
There are two types of marijuana users the District. Those who have avoided arrest, and those whose lives are derailed by involvement with the criminal courts. The first group is predominantly white and privileged. The second, black and disadvantaged. Research confirms what many people of color suspect: The disparity between white and black marijuana arrests is the result of racial bias in the application of the law.
I talked a great deal about this issue when I ran for D.C. Council in April’s special election. I didn’t win, but that doesn’t mean that the city’s leaders can’t take a sensible action to improve the prospects of thousands of young people.
It’s time for Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and the D.C. Council to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Seventeen states and several major cities already have. Blue states such as Massachusetts and red states such as Nebraska have realized that it is counterproductive to pointlessly saddle their kids with criminal records. If Cambridge intellectuals and Nebraska “cornhuskers” can agree on decriminalizing marijuana, why can’t the District’s elected leaders figure this out, too?
Decriminalization is not legalization. With decriminalization, marijuana is still prohibited but the maximum penalty for those caught with small amounts is reduced from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil violation.
Adults are given a citation and fined. Juveniles are assigned to an educational class, and their parents are notified. Because there’s no arrest, there’s no arrest record — and no impediment to finding legitimate employment.
Public safety is not enhanced by locking up people for small amounts of pot. In fact, public safety is compromised, and society pays a hefty price, when law enforcement turns harmless young pot users into “lawbreakers” and drags them into a system that ultimately spits out them out on a dead-end street.
The writer is a D.C. lawyer.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-time-for-dc-to-stop-wrecking-lives-over-a-bag-of-weed/2013/05/24/e3bbc8cc-c314-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html?hpid=z4

Zuckerberg Puts Legalization On Debate In DC

Without the candidacy of Paul Zuckerberg for City Council in the recent election, this would not even be in discussion. Thank you Mr. Zuckerberg!

Some on D.C. Council plan bills to ease penalties for having marijuana

By Tim Craig, Published: May 15

Some D.C. Council members are crafting legislation to lessen the penalties for marijuana possession, hoping to settle the matter before outside groups petition the issue onto the ballot.
Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) — who as chairman of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee would shepherd the legislation — are formulating a proposal to eliminate criminal penalties for those caught with small amounts of cannabis or subject offenders to fines.
“Absolutely, it’s time we look at decriminalization of marijuana in the District of Columbia,” said Wells, who is running for mayor next year. “It’s time we enter the 21st century and stop criminalizing people . . . for what is not really a major crime.”
Wells and Barry said they will introduce a bill as early as this summer. Meanwhile, Anita Bonds (D-At Large) also is considering a measure to decriminalize marijuana or reduce penalties for possession. The initiatives would be debated by Wells’s committee.
Although there appears to be council support for a debate, those who support decriminalizing pot face considerable obstacles, including a skeptical council chairman, Phil Mendelson (D).
“I don’t think it’s the right time,” said Mendelson, who noted that Congress has blocked similar efforts in the District. “I don’t think decriminalization of marijuana will go over easily with Congress.”
But advocates say they think that there is growing momentum in the District and across the nation to change drug laws. On Monday, the Vermont Legislature voted to decriminalize up to an ounce of marijuana, joining more than a dozen states to remove the threat of jail for possession. Colorado is preparing to tax the sale of marijuana.
Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project said advocates may seek a referendum on the matter in the District as early as November 2014. A recent poll of District voters commissioned by the group and the Drug Policy Alliance, which support decriminalizing marijuana, found broad backing for decriminalizing or legalizing the drug.
But Barry, who first supported marijuana decriminalization as mayor in the 1980s, said he would prefer that the council, instead of voters, decide the matter.
He said too many young African Americans get criminal records because of small amounts of marijuana possession. “These council members ought to stand up, and I think they will, on behalf of their constituency, who suffers mightily from this archaic situation,” said Barry, who was arrested for cocaine possession in 1990 while mayor.
Barry said he and Wells hope to get “six or seven” council members to co-sponsor a measure. On Wednesday, David Grosso (I-At Large) pledged his support but added that he wants to broaden the discussion to include legalization.
“The people on the streets dealing are the nonviolent drug offenders who are going to jail for dealing drugs,” said Grosso, who at age 22 was arrested in 1993 in Florida for having marijuana. “I think that is a serious problem.”
Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large) compared the marijuana debate to the ongoing debate over regulating food trucks. “It’s just something we are going to have to address,” said Orange, who is undecided on decriminalization.
Mendelson, however, said the issue should be decided by voters instead of the council to avoid congressional scrutiny. “As a matter of strategy, an initiative might be a better way to go, strategically, because then you have all the voters speaking,” he said.
Under city law, possession of up to half a pound of marijuana is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine on a first offense.
Most first-time offenders are sentenced to community service and are eligible to have their records expunged. But Paul Zukerberg, a lawyer who specializes in marijuana cases, said many offenders get criminal records because they lack the resources to get their records expunged.
Zukerberg, who unsuccessfully ran for the council on a decriminalization platform, said thousands of people cannot find work because of criminal records.
“You have to aggressively go after it to have the charge removed,” he said. “And, as a practical matter, once your name is in a public database for a number of years, to try to go back and erase it is futile.”
Regardless of what happens on the council, Wells’s decision to push for decriminalization means the issue will most probably become part of the mayoral race.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who has yet to announce whether he will seek reelection, has said the city should fully implement the medical marijuana law before considering decriminalization.
Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), a candidate for mayor, said she’s considering her response but also thinks the city should stay focused on its medical marijuana program.
“I think the notion about the concern of the number of people in our criminal-justice system because of minor drug offenses warrants looking at,” said Bowser, who is also on the judiciary committee. “But I am not prepared to say we need to go another step.”




http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/some-on-dc-council-plan-bills-to-ease-penalties-for-having-marijuana/2013/05/15/18feed18-bd87-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

Electric Cars and Vocational Education

Electric cars in DC schools? A great program to me - Milloy asks some good questions.

D.C. school was ahead of its time with electric car

By Courtland Milloy, Published: November 29, 2011

Whatever happened to the Volkswagen Rabbit that D.C. public school students converted to a battery powered racer back in the mid-1990s? The car had been the crown jewel of the Electric Vehicle Program at Phelps Vocational High in Northeast Washington. Students were always parading it around town and putting it on display at auto shows. They even got to race it at the Richmond International Speedway.
Then, while Phelps was closed for renovation between 2002 and 2008, the car disappeared from the school’s auto shop garage. When the new and improved Phelps Architecture, Construction and Engineering High School reopened, a scaled-down version of the auto mechanics course was moved to another school and the Electric Vehicle Program was discontinued.
So where is the car?
Advocates for restarting the program could sure use it as an example of how D.C. students once led the way in the use of clean energy. And with President Obama pressing on with plans to get 1 million electric vehicles on the nation’s roads by 2015, the city could recharge a program that had been ahead of its time — and it would still be right on time.
“The electric car industry worldwide is growing rapidly because of climate change and efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” said LeRoy Hall, a retired Pepco employee who helped start the EVP at Phelps. “Yet our students are denied training in this expanding and potentially lucrative field.”
In recent months, Hall has testified before the D.C. Council, urging its members to restart the EVP. Other supporters have made similar appeals to school officials — as well as inquiries about the whereabouts of the student-built car.
Hall says he’s still waiting for a response.
When it comes to preparing students for work in the auto industry in the Washington area, Suitland High School in Prince George’s County, the Edison Academy at Thomas Edison High in Fairfax County and the Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Montgomery County offer excellent instruction. In the District, Ballou High got the remnants of the Phelps auto mechanics program while students at Spingarn focus on collision repair.
The EVP at Phelps was in a class by itself.
“Even students who weren’t in the program started coming around; they couldn’t believe what we were doing,” said Dave Goldstein, president emeritus of the Electric Vehicle Association of Greater Washington who also volunteered at Phelps. “They were saying, ‘What if you did this?’ and ‘What if you did that?’ They weren’t just standing around looking or giving answers by rote. They were making suggestions and coming up with new ideas. That’s how you know real learning is taking place. Kids who had been delinquent started coming back to school. They would come back to school at night to work on the car.”
Converting that Rabbit into an electric-powered racer had required the practical application of physics, electronics, electromagnetism, aerodynamics and hydraulics. Students researched different kinds of electric motors and the type and quantity of batteries needed to run them. They removed the old gasoline-powered engine, the gas tank and fuel lines, and replaced the automatic transmission with a five-speed stick shift.
They installed the electric motor and built their own electrical testing devices using resistance coils from old electric space heaters, put in some electrical adaptors and special gauges.
And it ran just fine. No batteries conking out, catching fire or exploding.
Perhaps even more importantly, the students worked as a team. They cooperated, made decisions as a group and delegated responsibilities. They weren’t just learning how to build a car; they were also picking up on the civic skills needed to build and sustain a democracy.
The team of that brought the EVP to Phelps included Hall, Goldstein, Edward Torrence, who was the Phelps auto shop teacher, and Dwayne French, one of Torrence’s students who went on to run the automotive technology program at Ballou. All say they would help start another EVP if asked.
As for the car, perhaps the city towed it from the auto shop and mistakenly took it to a government vehicle maintenance lot. It’s worth a look. The car was pearl white with the number 51 stenciled on the sides; students said they wanted the car to symbolize the District’s quest to become the 51st state.
Obviously the city didn’t think much of their effort.
“We’re still looking for it,” D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown, an avowed supporter of vocational education programs, told me recently.
Better yet, he could get the program restarted and just let the students build another one.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-school-was-ahead-of-its-time-with-electric-car/2011/11/29/gIQAqV418N_story.html

Did Rhee's So Called Reforms Harm DC Schools?

Report claims Rhee's reforms harmed D.C. schools

April 23, 2013 | 9:00 pm 

Many of the reforms instituted under former DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and continued under Chancellor Kaya Henderson have done more harm than good for the school system, according to a new report.
Under Rhee's leadership, achievement gaps grew, test scores showed little improvement, school closings accomplished little and new teacher evaluations led to high staff turnover, according to the report by Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, a campaign started five years ago by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.
DCPS declined to comment. A representative of StudentsFirst, Rhee's new advocacy group, did not return requests for comment.
Though the report looks at public schools in Chicago, New York and the District, the data from the District are "unabashedly the worst," said campaign National Coordinator Elaine Weiss, who wrote the report.
While Chicago and New York had worsening standardized test scores or widening race and income gaps under their respective leaders at the time, only the District saw both stagnant or declining test scores and widening gaps.
Reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test known as the "nation's report card," rose for white, Hispanic and black fourth graders in the four years before Rhee came to Washington, but have since stagnated or declined, the report says. In the eighth grade, reading scores dropped across all three groups both before and during Rhee's tenure, and the achievement gap between white and Hispanic students widened.
Though math scores increased among fourth and eighth graders between 2007 and 2011, achievement gaps between low-income and middle- and high-income students and between white and black students widened.
Closing schools didn't help. When Rhee closed 23 underenrolled schools in 2008, students moved from low-performing schools to lower-performing schools, the report argues.
"When they closed the schools in 2008, they did give the receiving schools extra resources, and the idea was that they would make it more attractive to those kids that were coming from the closed schools," said Mary Levy, a school budget expert whose data Weiss used. "It didn't work out that way."
Instead, the school closings cost more money than anticipated -- $39.5 million, rather than $9.7 million -- and prompted more students to leave DCPS for charters, the report says.
The school closings combined with Rhee's flagship reform, teacher evaluations that rely on students' performance on standardized tests, created large staff turnover, the report argues.
The portion of teachers leaving DCPS after two years increased from 27.8 percent to 33.2 percent, and the share leaving after three years increased from 37.5 percent to 42.7 percent. More than half of the teachers hired under Rhee left within two years, and 80 percent left before the end of their sixth year. As a result, Weiss argued, DCPS is left with fewer experienced teachers to work with the low-income students who need the most help.
Rather than continue Rhee's reforms, the District should address health and other problems that lead to truancy, and it should make sure the teachers in Anacostia are as good as those in Chevy Chase, Weiss said. "Then it has to fundamentally rethink what are the gaps and how do we fill those in."
rbaye@washingtonexaminer.com


http://washingtonexaminer.com/report-claims-rhees-reforms-harmed-d.c.-schools/article/2527997

Bike Issues In A Land Down Under

Bike transportation issues are all over - from Australia below. And what about the unregistered motor scooters? The police tell me that any engine over 50cc must be licensed to be on a public road and that any engine under 50cc is not allowed on a public road. For the number of non-registered motor scooters I see, there is abig loop hole somewhere.

Riding roughshod

Bruce Guthrie
February 5, 2012 - 3:00AM

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PREMIER Ted Baillieu finally killed off the notion of bicycle registration, no doubt prompting sighs of relief from lycra-clad pedal-pushers. Said Ted: ''I think everybody has come down in the past on the side of not doing that, and that's certainly the starting point for me.'' It was a victory for common sense and cyclists.

At least, I think it was. On re-examining the Premier's comments, you realise he left himself a lot of wriggle room. And, more importantly, maybe registration is just what cyclists need if they are ever going to be treated with respect by other road users.

For the most part, I admire cyclists and believe the more we encourage cycling the better. It has obvious health and environmental benefits. But while I am loath to entertain the idea of any new government impost, bicycle registration might at least begin to heal the rift between riders and motorists.

And what a rift it is, as evidenced by the extraordinary support Shane Warne attracted recently in his call for registration. While the incident that provoked his call is the subject of claim and counter-claim, there is no doubt the cricketer tapped into a rich vein of anger among motorists frustrated by the aggressive behaviour of some cyclists and their lack of accountability.

I know that some of this aggression is necessary to simply survive on roads where cyclists are outnumbered, outsized, outweighted and constantly at risk of injury or worse. But do they have to be so righteously indignant about it?

I've had obscenities hurled at me for daring to turn left across the path of cyclists tens of metres behind me, been yelled at for opening my driver side door inappropriately (and, yes, I looked first to make sure it was safe), been almost bowled over at a pedestrian crossing by a cyclist running a red light, and, in one particularly memorable moment, had a cyclist hang on to my car at a red light and then flip me the bird as he took off ahead of me when red turned to green. And they have this annoying habit of changing their riding habits - one minute they'll use the road, then the footpath, then a pedestrian crossing, if it suits them. (Besides, on Sunday mornings, they crowd out all the best coffee joints.)

Whenever any of this happens I find myself thinking: how come I have to pay to share the road, but cyclists get off scot-free? And why can they break all these road rules anonymously? If it were a motorist I would at least be able to give police a registration number. If I failed to stop at a red light my picture would be taken and I'd be out $300 and three demerit points.

That's the root of the problem, isn't it? That motorists, motorcyclists, truck drivers and just about any other road user you care to name has to fork out hundreds of dollars each year for the right to use our roads, but cyclists are not required to spend a penny, or be identified. They don't even have to have any kind of licence or training or rider education. No matter what traffic engineers might try to tell us, experience teaches us that cars and bicycles do not go together well.

I have the same reservations about cyclists and pedestrians. Anyone who has ever tried to negotiate Southbank around 5pm on weekdays will know it's a dance with disaster, as homeward-bound pedallers flout speed restrictions.

All of which means the more separation the better, preferably more designated bike lanes. But where is the money going to come from to build them?

Hawaii has had a bicycle registration program since early last century and it doesn't seem to have dampened enthusiasm for cycling. According to the Honolulu mayor's office, the scheme was originally motivated by a desire to cut down on bicycle theft or, at least, aid recovery when it happens. Now it's put into a special bikeway fund used to pay for bike projects and programs.

The scheme is simple and is run out of the local equivalent of VicRoads, so there is no huge additional administrative cost. All bicycles with 20-inch wheels or larger have to be registered for a one-time fee of $15 and an additional $5 if the ownership is ever transferred.

The cyclist is given a unique numbered decal that is attached to the bicycle frame's seat tube. While Bicycle Network Victoria has no detailed figures on the number of bikes on our roads, a spokesman said more than 10 million new bikes had been sold in Australia over the past decade.

Victoria's share of that would probably be at least 2 million. Even if only half were subject to registration, that's a lot of money that could be going to cycling infrastructure and programs. These could include an advertising campaign aimed at educating motorists - and cyclists - about better road behaviour.

With that sort of money, they might even be able to afford someone prominent to front them. Shane Warne perhaps?

Bruce Guthrie is a former editor of The Age, The Sunday Age and Herald Sun.

Twitter: @brucerguthrie

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/riding-roughshod-20120204-1qyt6.html?rand=1328361912276

D.C. mayor planning environmental initiative

By Tim Craig, Published: December 12

Hoping to jump-start his legislative agenda while boosting his standing with city progressives, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is undertaking an environmental initiative he thinks will one day make the city a national model for clean energy, urban farming, green space and car-free transportation options.

Gray (D), who is heading into his second year as mayor, said he formed his “Sustainable D.C.” initiative to strengthen city efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and lay the foundation for proposals that would revitalize an administration criticized for lack of vision.

Although the details won’t be finalized until spring, the plan could include more solar panels on government buildings, gardens in vacant city lots, new walking and biking trails, storm water retention ponds and turning waste into fuel.

“To lead, we must be bold,” Gray said at a speech recently. “This isn’t about incremental improvement. It’s about leaping beyond the competition.”

But in a city where study groups and comprehensive plans are routine and follow-through less frequent, some activists are skeptical Gray’s initiative will have a substantial impact.

Gwyn Jones, chair of the Washington chapter of the Sierra Club, said the “jury is still out” as to whether the initiative will result in lasting change.

“The devil is in the implementation,” said Jones, noting the 2000 Anacostia Waterfront Initiative has not been fully implemented. “But they have good people involved who seem to really want to make a difference, so our approach is, ‘Let’s play and see what we can get.’ ”

Gray’s proposal comes as many big-city mayors are competing over who can be the greenest. With the federal government and many state legislatures gridlocked over climate change, cities have been on the front lines with new environmental initiatives.

Yet Gray is putting his own touch on the concept. Perhaps better than any other policy effort to date, his efforts highlight his 2010 campaign pledge to seek community input in government decisions.

Former mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) was often criticized for being isolated in his decision-making, but Gray has begun seeking consensus from residents and experts before formally unveiling his plan. And despite early concerns over Gray’s go-slow management style, advocates say his approach makes them feel more connected to the government.

In September, the city launched a Web site where residents could provide suggestions for what should be in the plan.

On Nov. 29, to kick off the second phase of the project, Gray gathered residents and experts to brainstorm, breaking up 400 people into nine working groups dealing with the environment, climate, energy, food, nature, transportation, waste, water and green economy. The groups are expected to report in late February so the administration can produce a draft plan by April.

“It’s got a lot of people energized,” said Michael Barrette, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency but also helps manage the Capitol Hill Energy Co-Op. “The mayor seems to be serious about getting citizen volunteer engagement, so we are really optimistic.”

The Sustainable D.C. Web site has generated hundreds of ideas, including building sports fields on the site of the old RFK Stadium, putting farms inside abandoned buildings, planting more trees, and a citywide ban on the use of Styrofoam and road salt.

Some suggestions seem far-fetched, such as charging a toll to enter the city or creating another “Central Park” in the city, in addition to the Mall. Others appear parochial, such as a suggestion the city remove the asphalt at Brent Elementary in Southeast.

In an interview, Gray said he views the initiative as way to help fulfill his goal of creating more jobs and foreign investment while also rallying a socially-liberal city behind a common goal.

“We have to set our sights high and innovate, but that is exactly how we will win,” he said. “To get there, we need to work together.”

With the city budget still constrained by the recent recession, Gray concedes that some costly initiatives may be out of reach during his administration. Complicating his efforts, the city is nearing its debt limit.

One likely proposal by the Sustainable D.C. energy working group — requiring most buildings to instill solar panels — could cost as much as $7 billion in public and private money over 10 years.

“We are after fundamental change,” said Robert Robinson, a member of the group. He said part of the cost would be offset by tax credits and energy savings.

Washington already is home to the nation’s largest bike-sharing system, 200 LEED-certified buildings and a 5-cent tax on plastic bags, and government experts say the District is well positioned to compete with other cities that lead the pack in sustainability efforts, such as Seattle, Portland, Ore., Denver and Chicago.

“In a weird way, the District, as a state and city, is the most interesting place potentially in America because they have a blending of state authority and local authority,” said Kevin S. McCarty, assistant executive director at the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “The District to me is a bellwether of what is achievable in the absence of any federal involvement.”

D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), author of the city’s bag tax, said Gray should be applauded for engaging the public. But Wells said he is not sure whether Gray has the political appetite to tackle the issue in a major way, which the council member said would require tough decisions on new plans to reduce the number of cars on city streets.

Wells added that Gray will have to change some of his own behavior, saying both the mayor and the council often serve bottled water during meetings.

“What does that tell the public?” Wells asked.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-mayor-planning-environmental-initiative/2011/12/09/gIQAVqAgqO_story_1.html

Washington Gas Starts To Pay The Piper

Washington Gas to clean Anacostia riverbank under new agreement

By Darryl Fears, Published: December 12

Washington Gas Light Co. has agreed to clean a section of land along the Anacostia River that it contaminated with harmful chemicals for more than a century, federal officials announced Monday.

As part of an agreement involving the utility, the U.S. Interior Department and the D.C. government, Washington Gas will also pay for a comprehensive investigation of toxic contamination of soil and groundwater on the site. It will repay nearly $1 million to federal agencies for investigations that revealed how badly the river was fouled where the company once processed gas.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the agreement “a milestone in our efforts . . . to transform what was once known as America’s forgotten river into a model urban park.” A walkway is slated to traverse the area once when the work is done.

But the Anacostia Watershed Society said much is unknown about the agreement, including its cost and how the utility will be held accountable for its work. “How much they’re committing is really unclear at this point,” said Brent Bolin, director of advocacy for AWS.

A Washington Gas spokesman said contaminated soil will be removed and replaced with clean soil over four acres. The spokesman, Reuben Rodriguez, declined to give an estimate of the cleanup cost.

For 60 years, from 1888 to 1948, the utility manufactured gas feed stocks at a facility along Water Street SE, just upstream from the 11th Street Bridge on the river. Waste created by the gasification process contained harmful organic compounds such as benzene, cyanide, arsenic and other contaminants such as tar, coal and coke.

The company continued to use the “East Station” site intermittently until it was closed in 1983 and demolished in 1986. Between that time and 1999, six major federal environmental investigations were performed at the site.

“This has been a cleanup 100 years in the making,” Bolin said. “These are known carcinogens. They are an exposure risk for people who fish, people who boat, people who row.”

The Anacostia River was called “one of the most polluted waterways in the nation” in a May report by the advocacy group DC Appleseed.

With its low flows, the Anacostia cannot easily flush pollutants, many of which come from combined sewage runoff and from chemical waste from the Navy Yard, according to the report. It called on the federal government, as one of the river’s biggest polluters, to take a larger role in the cleanup.

Despite of a 2006 federal decision that called for a cleanup amid hiking trails, yacht clubs and a fishery, work was never completed, Bolin said. AWS filed a suit in August to compel the utility and federal government to act. “You couldn’t get the federal government to care about this issue until the Obama administration,” Bolin said.

The city has been acquiring land nearby with an eye on its Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, a vision for recreational, residential and commercial development along the river.

“This settlement is a major step forward in restoring this vibrant river . . . [and] protecting habitat and wildlife,” Salazar said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/washington-gas-to-clean-anacostia-riverbank-under-new-agreement/2011/12/12/gIQAc0ihqO_story.html