WASHINGTON – A US federal judge on Oct 26 halted any more tree-cutting at a public golf course in Washington, after hundreds of trees were felled in President Donald Trump’s pet project in the heart of the US capital.
As an avid golfer who owns courses around the world, Trump has called for Washington’s East Potomac Golf Links, a public course with affordable rates, to be remodelled into a facility capable of hosting major championship-calibre events.
“The Court ENJOINS defendants from removing or damaging additional trees on East Potomac Golf Course and ORDERS them to provide ten business days’ written advance notice before making any irreparable modification to any forms or features of East Potomac Park, pending the outcome of this litigation,” District Judge Ana Reyes wrote in the 70-page order on Oct 26.
The early demolition for the overhaul had charged ahead despite an environmental group’s lawsuit seeking to halt it.
“The Government felled hundreds of trees from the East Potomac Golf Course without real notice even though it knew of the scheduled removal at least a week prior,” Reyes wrote, adding they were “healthy, non-hazardous trees”.
Earlier in October, Trump posted about the golf course on his Truth Social platform, saying construction was set to start in November on the 18-hole course.
More than 500 trees have already been cut down, the judge wrote.
“The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law,” Reyes wrote, in reference to the Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax.
Local golfers have also spoken out against the remodelling of the beloved course, which has been in operation since 1920, where they can affordably play a sport that is often a past time of the wealthy. AFP