Articles

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Lawmakers are demanding the Trump administration clean up debris from the White House East Wing demolition dumped at East Potomac Park.

In a letter sent to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Democratic members of Congress, including Jamie Raskin, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Don Beyer and Glenn Ivey said, “We demand that you immediately and safely remove over 35,000 cubic yards of toxic debris left over from the demolition of the former East Wing of the White House that you deposited on the East Potomac Golf Course. For nearly eight months, golfers, cyclists, runners, fishermen and members of the public have been exposed to such debris, which contains dangerous levels of arsenic, lead and mercury.”

The Trump administration began dumping the debris near the golf course in October. Since then, it’s raised serious concerns.

“The White House … knew there would be a high likelihood of toxins in the East Wing debris and still chose to dump them in a public place, creating massive exposure for both adults and children,” the lawmakers continued.

But a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior has disputed the claims by the lawmakers.

“The soil was tested, multiple times by multiple parties, and this project passed all standards set by law. This thorough process was followed to ensure the transfer was safe for the public. All of the findings are available online and have been disclosed to the public,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

One of the soil studies commissioned by the government was from Jacobs Engineering.

The report, published on June 17, did find elevated levels of arsenic and lead in the soil, as well as other metals, including mercury.

However, the report stated, “Based on the preliminary evaluations described within, there is limited risk to human receptors from the stockpile and the stockpile surface soil based on the current and likely future use of the site.”

It went on to recommend a more detailed risk assessment study.

It stated, “However, completion of a more detailed human health risk assessment will provide a more refined risk evaluation of the constituents of potential concern, while additional ecological risk assessment is warranted to refine the evaluation of risks to ecological receptors potentially exposed to site soils.”

The letter from lawmakers went on to criticize soil testing done by the government.

“Even more troubling is your failure to release reliable test results on the potential asbestos content that may be mixed in with the demolition materials of the East Wing. These contaminants are embedded in debris piles just feet away from the banks of the Potomac River, an important tributary of the Chesapeake Bay where people fish and row,” they wrote.

It’s unclear if or when the debris will be removed.

The lawmakers asked for more information from Secretary Burgum by July 10.