DC Preservation Group Claims Trump Administration Dumped More Than 3 Trucks’ Worth of Toxic Debris at Local Golf Course

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

A Washington, D.C., preservation group has filed court documents alleging that the Trump administration has dumped loads of toxic debris from the White House’s East Wing demolition at a local golf course.

The more than 30,000 cubic yards of debris — enough to fill more than three dump trucks — was transferred to the East Potomac Golf Course in D.C. from the area that Trump is turning into a ballroom and bunker.

According to the filing, shared by MeidasTouch’s Scott MacFarlane on Friday, “results from Defendants’ own tests on the debris pile (which now substantially surpasses Defendants’ original assurance of 30,000 cubic yards) show concerning levels of arsenic, hydrocarbons, and other dangerous pollutants – including lead.”

The filing continued:

The debris was not, in fact, “confirmed safe” before or after dumping. One of Defendants’ contractors likely wasn’t testing for the right contaminants at all…and Defendants’ own records suggest that the other contractor delayed testing for eight days after dump trucks began arriving. When the second contractor finally began testing, the results were alarming, yet the Categorical Exclusion Form insisted that the dumping had “No Potential For Significant Impacts on Sensitive Resources”…on land with with a notoriously high water table where contaminants could migrate into groundwater.

The Trump administration didn’t explain why it chose the golf course as its dumping site. However, Trump has said that he was looking to rebrand the area as the “Washington National Golf Course.” In addition, NOTUS reported that the Trump administration was, in fact, taking over the course to begin renovations.

The DC Preservation League filed an emergency stay request for the project, which a federal judge declined to issue in early May.

Democracy Forward, which is co-representing the Preservation League, has demanded a review of the new test results, claiming in a press release that the government “dumped a cocktail of contaminants” on the course and continues to do so.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said in an email to the Associated Press that the debris “was tested multiple times, by multiple parties, and this project passed all standards set by law.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!