Overview
- The administration has announced construction will begin on Sept. 1 but visible large-scale work has not started and a federal judge refused to block activity while ordering advance court notifications.
- Reporting and studies show East Potomac is an artificial peninsula made of dredged fill with a very high water table that has subsided roughly five feet, which makes deep bunkers and slopes typical of championship courses technically difficult.
- Hydrologists and golf-course designers say the only way to create elevated features is to haul in huge volumes of new fill and install complex drainage, a process that risks unstable excavations and safety problems for workers.
- Opponents warn that raising the site could push floodwaters onto nearby sites, including the National Mall and the Jefferson Memorial whose seawall recently cost about $100 million, and could leave an expensive unusable site if the project fails.
- The DC Preservation League has sued to stop the plan and earlier local upgrades cost taxpayers about $14 million, so legal battles, potential remediation bills, and close federal oversight are now central to how the project could proceed.