Brentwood Scrubbed Clean, Officials Hope

WASHINGTON – Officials with the District of Columbia Government and the U.S. Postal Service expressed hope that they will have successfully cleared a major postal facility of any lingering anthrax spores. The $19 million Washington Postal Employees FCU has been unable to access its headquarters inside the facility since October of 2001. Over the weekend of December 14-15, environmental workers filled the 17 million square-foot complex of workrooms, docking bays and storage areas that make up the Brentwood postal facility with gas that has been found to kill the anthrax spores. Anthrax killed two postal employees and credit union members who came into contact with the spores when they leaked from a letter that passed through the facility in 2001. The officials say it will be mid-January before they can be sure the anthrax has been killed. If the clean-up has been successful, postal officials say the facility will undergo renovation and further cleaning and should be ready for a return of workers and the credit union by mid-April.