President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to convert the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, D.C., into a championship-style course\u2014with more expensive tee times\u2014violates environmental and historic preservation laws, a lawsuit brought by the DC Preservation League and two recreational golfers alleges.<\/p>\n
The complaint, filed last Friday in a D.C. federal district court, seeks an injunction to stop the implementation of a plan that has already started. The Department of the Interior\u2019s National Park Service (NPS) has allegedly dumped 30,000 cubic yards of fill on the course. The dumping is described as including wire, pipes, bricks and other potentially hazardous materials from the recent demolition of the White House\u2019s East Wing (to construct a ballroom), with the complaint saying \u201cexperts\u201d believe the East Wing contained asbestos and lead paint.<\/p>\n
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The demanded injunction would order the government to remove materials that have already been placed on the course. It would also halt other moves related to this project, including any additional dumping of \u201cdirt, debris, or other refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
East Potomac is a public course that opened in 1920 and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its cultural value. As described by the plaintiffs, the course is intended for recreational purposes that are \u201cbroadly accessible to the general public\u201d and at \u201caffordable\u201d fees.<\/p>\n
The NPS maintains the land on which the course sits. In 2020, NPS and the National Links Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting affordable golf and other pursuits, signed a 50-year lease in which NLT took over stewardship of East Potomac and two other D.C. public courses, Langston and Rock Creek. The lease was hailed as providing \u201clong-term care\u201d to the courses and ensuring \u201caffordable opportunities\u201d to play golf in D.C.<\/p>\n
Late last year, the Interior Department notified National Links Trust that it was terminating the lease on account of alleged failure to perform capital improvements, owing back rent and other supposed missteps; National Links Trust, which is not a party to the litigation, disputes the Interior Department\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n
The litigation is led by the DC Preservation League, a nonprofit that aims to \u201cpreserve, protect and enhance\u201d properties in Washington, D.C., including for their historic, communal and aesthetic values. The nonprofit is joined by two nearby residents, Dave Roberts of D.C. and Alex Dickson of Arlington, Va., both of whom are recreational golfers who regularly play at East Potomac. Roberts and Dickson contend their interests are being harmed by the prospective loss of the course.<\/p>\n
The plaintiffs portray the Interior Department as trying to \u201cdestroy\u201d the course \u201cin keeping with President Trump\u2019s efforts to remake the public spaces of Washington, D.C., in his image.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new championship-style course would be known as Washington National Golf Course and resemble courses Trump and his companies own elsewhere, such as Trump National Doral in Miami, Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., and Trump Turnberry in Scotland. The plaintiffs warn that the \u201ccost of a tee time\u201d at the new version of East Potomac would \u201cinflate\u201d in accordance with its ritzier surroundings.<\/p>\n
Affordability is a major theme in the complaint, which was drafted by Will Bardwell, Abbe David Lowell and other attorneys from Democracy Forward and Lowell & Associates.<\/p>\n
The complaint says that a weekend round at East Potomac\u2019s Blue Course costs $48, a meaningfully cheaper price than at nearby courses. For instance, a Sunday morning round at Laurel Hill Golf Club, a municipal golf course in Fairfax County, Va., reportedly costs $89. A weekend tee time at many other D.C.-area courses costs in the range of $70 to $110. Those costs only rise when factoring in additional barriers. For example, some private courses require memberships that carry initiation fees exceeding $100,000. Yearly membership dues and guest fees are other potential charges.<\/p>\n
In the legal realm, the case centers on procedural arguments.<\/p>\n
The Interior Department is accused of failing to satisfy notice and mitigation obligations established by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). Those federal statutes are enforceable through the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which directs courts to set aside agency actions when they are taken without observance of procedural requirements and in abuse of agency discretion.<\/p>\n
One hurdle for the plaintiffs is that the judicial standard of review for claims brought through the APA is generally deferential to agencies.<\/p>\n
As the complaint acknowledges, courts use an arbitrary or capricious standard, meaning an agency typically is found to have acted lawfully unless it went well beyond its authority or in a way that contradicts its own standards. Although the U.S. Supreme Court in\u00a0Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo\u00a0(2024) held that judges may\u00a0no longer defer<\/a>\u00a0to an agency interpretation when a statute is ambiguous, agencies relying on unambiguous statutes are accorded deference by courts on account of their expertise and experiences.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs point out that courts have found that agencies acted arbitrarily or capriciously when they \u201crelied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider,\u201d entirely failed to consider a key factor, presented an explanation for its decision that \u201cruns counter to the evidence,\u201d or acted in a way \u201cso implausible\u201d that it can\u2019t be ascribed to experience or expertise and is instead \u201cimplausible.\u201d<\/p>\n To that end, the plaintiffs accuse the Interior Department of failing to meet NEPA requirements regarding the consideration and mitigation of \u201charmful\u201d environmental impacts that might have been caused by the dumping of \u201cthousands of cubic yards of potentially contaminated dirt and debris.\u201d<\/p>\n NEPA generally requires agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement, which addresses environmental effects of a proposed project and is published for public review and comment. Although there are limited circumstances in which an environmental impact statement or similar document is not required, the plaintiffs contend none apply with the golf course plan and insist the Interior Department neglected the process required by law.<\/p>\n As for the NHPA, the plaintiffs charge the Interior Department has violated it by failing to \u201cconsider the effects\u201d of altering a historic site. The complaint references an obligation for the Interior Department to consult with the public and another agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, with a reasonable opportunity for comment. The complaint charges the Interior Department failed to comply with those steps.<\/p>\n The Interior Department declined a request for comment, explaining the agency does not comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n In forthcoming court filings, the agency will likely argue it met applicable procedures and that its decision to transform the existing course into a superior course is well within agency discretion. Even if some members of the public, including golfers who regularly play at East Potomac, object to replacing East Potomac on aesthetic, access or affordability grounds, the key question for the court is whether the agency acted within its discretion.<\/p>\n The Interior Department is also poised to insist the new course will be a better option for golfers, and thus its decision making is reasonable and justifiable.<\/p>\n Best of Sportico.com<\/p>\n Sign up for Sportico’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to convert the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, D.C., into a championship-style course\u2014with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[47470,220698,220697,133249,427,13490,54559,942,99,220696,220699,2002],"class_list":{"0":"post-477134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-d-c","9":"tag-dc-preservation-league","10":"tag-east-potomac","11":"tag-east-wing","12":"tag-golf","13":"tag-national-park-service","14":"tag-plaintiffs","15":"tag-president-donald-trump","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-the-department-of-the-interior","18":"tag-trump-national-doral","19":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}