{"id":21959,"date":"2026-02-15T05:26:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=21959"},"modified":"2026-02-15T05:26:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:26:27","slug":"golfers-sue-over-trumps-overhaul-of-100-year-old-public-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=21959","title":{"rendered":"Golfers sue over Trump’s overhaul of 100-year-old public course"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Two golfers in Washington, D.C., sued the federal government on Friday to try to prevent the Trump administration\u00a0from overhauling\u00a0a more than 100-year-old public golf course, accusing the administration of violating environmental laws and polluting a park that is on the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n

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The suit is the latest in a series of legal battles challenging President Donald Trump\u2019s extraordinary efforts to put his mark on public spaces in the nation\u2019s capitol, including\u00a0shuttering the Kennedy Center.<\/p>\n

At the end of last year, a group of preservationists\u00a0filed a similar lawsuitseeking to prevent the administration from demolishing the East Wing of the White House in order to build a ballroom \u2014 a project slated to cost $400 million.<\/p>\n

Trump, who is an avid golfer himself, also plans on renovating a\u00a0military golf course\u00a0just outside of Washington that has been used by past presidents going back decades.<\/p>\n

The complaint filed against the Department of the Interior on Friday says that the Trump administration\u2019s reconstruction of East Potomac Park \u2014 which includes the East Potomac Golf Course \u2014 would violate the congressional act that created the park in 1897. The roughly 130-year-old act established the park for the \u201crecreation and the pleasure of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The golf course, which has since been recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in part for its efforts to racially integrate in the 1940s. Municipal golf courses make up only 18% of courses in America.<\/p>\n

\u201cEast Potomac Golf Links is a testament to what\u2019s possible with public land and why public spaces matter,\u201d said Washington resident and plaintiff Dave Roberts. \u201cIt deserves better than becoming a dumping ground for waste and yet another private playground for the privileged and powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit came after the Trump administration in December ended a lease agreement the nonprofit National Links Trust held for East Potomac and two other golf courses in Washington. The Interior Department said it did so because the nonprofit hadn\u2019t implemented required capital improvements and failed to meet the terms of the lease.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department press office said in an email Friday that it doesn\u2019t comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

However, it said it would \u201censure these courses are safe, beautiful, open, affordable, enjoyable and accessible for people visiting the greatest capital city in the world which is in line with President Trump\u2019s agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House also didn\u2019t respond to an emailed request for comment on Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Construction on the East Potomac course has already begun, according to the lawsuit. In October, the National Parks Service began dumping debris from the demolition of the East Wing of the White House onto the golf course, the complaint said, raising concerns that the materials could contain contaminants that could pollute the air.<\/p>\n

As a result, the plaintiffs argued, the administration of also violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the harmful environmental impacts of the project.<\/p>\n

The National Links Trust said in December they were \u201cdevastated\u201d by the decision to terminate the lease and defended their management of the courses.<\/p>\n

They said $8.5 million had gone toward capital improvements at the courses and that rounds played and revenue had more than doubled in their tenure managing the courses. They also added that the termination of the lease jeopardized hundreds of local jobs.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit has agreed to keep managing the courses for the time being, but long-term renovations will stop.<\/p>\n

The first 18 holes of the East Potomac Park Golf Course were built from 1918 to 1923.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Golfers #sue #Trumps #overhaul #100yearold #public<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two golfers in Washington, D.C… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[13126,486,13125,3660,2018,1705,496],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}