Donald Trump is moving ahead with his plans to tear up yet another historic site without consulting Congress or the public.
The president announced in June that work would begin Sept. 1 to transform the 105-year-old East Potomac Golf Links, a public golf course in Washington, D.C., into what he claims will be a championship venue,
No details have been released about the project, and construction has yet to begin, but at least 150 trees were removed from the course earlier this month.
The National Park Service described the work as “routine maintenance,” but now, new information has emerged that suggests Trump is charging ahead with his latest vanity project, according to the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee.
The National Park Service awarded a contract last week worth more than $389,000 to Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, an engineering and planning firm, to help the agency comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, according to federal procurement records.
The contract is evidence that the administration is quietly preparing to begin construction before Congress, the courts, or the public have a chance to intervene, Rep. Jared Huffman of California said Wednesday during a Federal Lands subcommittee hearing, The Washington Post reported.
“We have seen this playbook too many times to sit up here and pretend that we don’t know where this is going and how this story ends,” Huffman said, citing Trump’s $600 million vanity ballroom project and proposed triumphal arch.
He also accused Trump of a “methodical, deliberate effort to take a public park away from the people” and instead “turn it into another gilded private golf club for the mega rich,” according to the Post.
East Potomac draws scores of golfers to its three courses, driving ranges, and miniature-golf course, while the larger park is a haven for runners, cyclists, birdwatchers, fishermen, and picknickers.
The administration has refused to provide any details about how the other recreational areas would be impacted by the golf course redesign.
Huffman and four other Democratic lawmakers sent the Interior Department and the NPS a letter Wednesday demanding information about designs, cost estimates, funding plans, and communications with the White House, Trump’s businesses, and the architect chosen to redesign the course, the Post reported.
No public hearings have been held on the golf course redesign.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department told the Post in a statement, “The full course design is yet to be finalized, so any type of cost estimate speculation over an advance notice of solicitation is premature and irresponsible, especially from a Member of Congress.”
The Daily Beast has also requested comment.
