Southeast D.C. residents have until Sept. 14 to weigh in on a federal plan to cap contaminated sediment in the Anacostia River next to the Washington Navy Yard.
The Department of the Navy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and D.C.'s Department of Energy and Environment announced Tuesday, Aug. 18 that they extended the public comment period on the proposed cleanup, which originally opened July 13. A virtual public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m. via Microsoft Teams.
The plan targets a 15.6-acre stretch of river bottom adjacent to and several hundred yards downstream of the Navy Yard. Sediment there is laced with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and lead, the result of decades of industrial activity at the installation and other sources across the watershed.
PCBs in the sediment pose health risks to anyone eating fish caught in the river. PAHs and lead threaten organisms living in and near the river bottom.
What the Navy proposes
The preferred remedy is what regulators call "enhanced natural recovery": crews would spread a thin layer of sand mixed with activated carbon over the most contaminated areas, then monitor the site for years under an adaptive management framework. If the cap doesn't perform, additional action could follow.
The work falls under CERCLA, the federal Superfund law. No final decision will be made until after the comment period closes.
How to participate
An in-person meeting was held July 23. The Aug. 27 virtual session will cover the same material, including investigation findings, the alternatives the Navy evaluated and the preferred remedy, followed by a question-and-answer period. A link to the Teams meeting is posted on the Navy's environmental restoration website for the Washington Navy Yard.
Written comments must be emailed to Caitlyn Dugan at NAVFAC Washington by Sept. 14. Residents can also reach Robert W. Stroud at EPA Region III (410-305-2748) or Nazmul Haque at DOEE (202-535-1330).
The proposed plan and supporting documents are available for review at the D.C. Public Library Southwest Branch (900 Wesley Place SW) and the Washington Navy Yard Library (850 Kidder Breese SE).
Broader Anacostia cleanup
The Navy Yard project is one piece of a larger effort to restore the Anacostia, a river the EPA says flows past communities with some of the region's lowest employment rates, highest poverty rates and poorest health indicators. More than 800,000 people live in the watershed.
D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb said in September 2025, when announcing a separate settlement requiring Washington Gas to contain pollution seeping into the Anacostia from a former gas plant: "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 Navy's plan now heads toward a final decision. Residents have until Monday, Sept. 14, to shape it.
