President Donald Trump has yet to complete his White House ballroom, his giant arch, or his Potomac golf course project — but he is now planning an overhaul of another golf complex at Joint Base Andrews, the Maryland installation that serves as home to Air Force One, Politico reported on Thursday.

Joint Base Andrews operates a 54-hole golf complex made up of three 18-hole courses. The facility has long served military personnel and their families, as well as presidents who prefer not to shut down another course for security reasons. Trump typically golfs only at his own country clubs; his one known exception was a round at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York in September 2020. No publicly available record shows that he has played the Andrews course.

The planned renovation, however, has bypassed water protection rules, and Maryland officials are not pleased. Parts of the golf course sit atop a landfill within a Superfund site contaminated by decades of industrial and airfield activity. Pollutants include heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, and so-called "forever chemicals."

Waiver Invoking National Security

Trump waived state and federal water pollution requirements for the renovation last June, invoking his authority on the grounds of "national security purposes." He has offered the same justification for the White House ballroom, and his new arch has also now been framed as a "national security" project.

Maryland Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain raised "serious concerns" in a letter to the base commander, Politico reported. She also noted that state inspectors were denied access when they attempted to conduct testing.

"I take this matter seriously. My inspectors have a responsibility to assess potential environmental impacts and compliance with applicable requirements, and I expect the base to cooperate with them in carrying out that responsibility," McIlwain wrote in the letter, which she shared with Politico.

Joint Base Andrews disputes that account, saying the state inspector was instead escorted onto the installation.

White House Defense

The White House said in a statement that the president is uniquely qualified to renovate the golf course. "President Trump is a champion-level golfer with an extraordinary eye for detail and design, and his vision to renovate and beautify Joint Base Andrews' golf courses will bring much-needed improvements that service members and their families will be able to enjoy for generations to come," spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.

Permit Dispute and Contamination Risks

Maryland officials say the Air Force does not intend to seek wetlands permits and has not completed applications governing erosion and stormwater runoff, and that construction could proceed before those approvals are issued. The concern is that if work disrupts the toxic Superfund site, runoff could end up in nearby neighbors' backyards. The Air Force, however, maintains that it will not conduct work near the creek and will not disturb any polluted soil.

"To the extent that a future renovation and revitalization project may be conducted above the landfill, the Department of the Air Force takes careful steps to avoid known contamination and to ensure that any areas of known contamination are not disturbed, thereby safeguarding protective measures that are already in place," an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement to Politico. "Any future work, including soil management, would be conducted in full compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations."

A Nicklaus-Led Redesign

Trump has publicly criticized the course, but he took famed course designer Jack Nicklaus on an aerial tour of the facility, and Nicklaus's firm will be in charge of the renovation.

Politico's report explained that placing a golf course atop a Superfund site is not unusual, because the course can cap off the contamination. "At Andrews, they have contamination with lead, asbestos … they have some serious contaminants there going back a lot of years," said Clifford Villa, a former EPA official who is now a law professor at the University of New Mexico. "So this is not insubstantial and not an insubstantial potential for release of contaminants in the soil and beneath the cap," he added.

Open Questions

The unresolved question is whether the administration's promised improvements can proceed without worsening pollution. It also remains to be seen whether Maryland will retain any meaningful oversight after Trump's waiver changed which water pollution rules apply to the construction.

Source: Alternet