The District has agreed to pay the federal government $600,000 after the U.S. Justice Department threatened to sue the city for failing to pay for the cleanup of mercury at two D.C. high schools.
As part of the settlement, the District also agreed to properly store and dispose of mercury and other hazardous substances in D.C. Public Schools to make sure students are safe from similar threats that shut down Ballou and Cardozo senior high schools for weeks at a time.
“We’re pleased that the matter has been settled,” said the District’s acting Attorney General Peter Nickles.
In 2005, mercury was found in several locations inside Cardozo. Students were caught on camera stealing a flask of mercury from a chemistry lab and spilling the hazardous substance throughout the school.
After an initial cleanup by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more mercury was found in a third-floor stairwell and in the basement, and the school had to be closed again.
School officials blamed the EPA for not making sure that the cleanup was complete. EPA contended that the spill was new.
In 2003, a Ballou student stole the substance from a science lab and sold it to friends, who spread it through the school. The building was closed for a month during the cleanup.
Students unknowingly carried mercury on contaminated shoes and clothing through the streets, onto city and school buses, and into their homes. Eleven homes and one common area were found to be contaminated, and 16 families were displaced for a month.
EPA assisted the District with screening more than 1,200 students, teachers and employees of Ballou and more than 300 bags of personal items like clothing and books.
The school district banned the substance after the Ballou incident.
Elemental mercury, a silvery liquid metal, can have neurological effects on humans, especially on children, if the vapors are inhaled. It can cause brain damage or loss of muscle control if inhaled over the long term.
Staff Writer Bill Myers contributed to this report.
