Tuesday, Sept. 1, is the date that President Donald Trump set for the start of a major renovation of East Potomac Golf Links in D.C.
Alex Rosen, who started the nonprofit group Save East Po to stop the announced plans, said the group is prepared to keep fighting if work begins.
“They will be breaking the law, and it will be challenged in court,” he told WTOP.
Another nonprofit, the D.C. Preservation League, has already filed a lawsuit in an effort to halt the project, which has also drawn objections from Congressional Democrats who pressed the Trump administration for details of the plans.
While there’s no final renovation plan in place, a map posted on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s X account in May showed a championship-level course replacing the current course. Rosen said this project has not gone through any of the normal procedures for a project of this scale.
“They have not done any of the required approvals historic place protection, environmental protection,” Rosen said.
The only activity that could resemble work on the golf course has been the recent removal of trees — about 60, in Rosen’s count. The National Park Service has said the work is routine removal of hazardous, dying, or invasive trees rather than construction tied to the redesign.
“I’ve walked the course I’ve watched them cut down trees that in my understanding are not invasive trees,” he said.
The Trump administration has publicly said it will comply with limits set by a judge, but it has not provided detailed assurances about how it will proceed if and when the project moves beyond maintenance.
Rosen said the procedures are intended to allow for community input before major irreversible decisions are made.
“This boils down to whether we the people own our public lands or if the temporary president does,” he said.
A court status hearing on the project is set for Thursday.
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