The Justice Department on Friday said the rush to complete President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool led to “hasty and botched work,” shedding new light on the problems behind the Washington landmark’s $14 million facelift.
Renovation Issues
In delivering a sharp contradiction to weeks of claims from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that vandals destroyed the Reflecting Pool, DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro attributed the bungled installation to bad weather, testing failures and shipment setbacks.
Trump and Burgum, meanwhile, continue to blame alleged vandals for the deteriorating pool lining, algae blooms and green water that appeared after the renovation.
The new details come from the DOJ’s Friday filing announcing it was dropping the case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the landmark.
What Went Wrong
Trump set out in late March to renovate the Reflecting Pool, which he described as “absolutely filthy” and vowed to make it “look gorgeous.”
In the weeks that followed, Trump expanded the scope of the project and ordered cosmetic changes, including painting the bottom of the pool “American flag blue.” The paint change immediately sparked a lawsuit from a nonprofit group, which argued the project violated federal laws requiring the Interior Department to complete a consultation process before beginning the work.
The president also wanted the project to be complete before America’s 250th birthday on July Fourth, an expedited timeline that the administration acknowledged drove up the cost — nearly seven times as much as the initial estimate of $1.8 million.
Installation for the Reflecting Pool lining began on May 5 by Virginia-based firm Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the sole contractor for the extensive project, according to the Justice Department filing.
The firm used two coating products — Rhino 406 and Pipeliner 5000 — in the renovation of the nearly 340,000-square-foot pool (that’s about the size of about six football fields).
Construction was significantly stalled due to spring showers, which hindered the expedited installation process the Trump administration had hoped for, at one point requiring crews to pump out the rain water to allow the coating to dry, according to the filing.
Crews continued to spray coats of the lining material, but the delays, largely due to weather, caught the attention of an employee with Brown Construction Services, a contractor charged with monitoring Atlantic Industrial Coatings’ progress.
Delays ballooned when AIC ran out of Rhino 406, one of the primary coatings, and a quality control inspector flagged “blistering” in the finished portions of the lining and called for repairs.
On June 9, crews completed a final inspection of the site and refilled the pool. One day after it was filled, CNN first observed the presence of algae — in some areas.
At the onset of the project, the administration dispatched a company to use a $1.7 million “ozone nanobubbler” to clear the algae, bacteria and other chemicals.
Nearly three months from the outset of construction, Trump said Monday the Reflecting Pool is “almost ready to open” once again.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
