US judge halts tree-cutting at Trump’s Washington golf course project
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More than 500 trees have already been cut down at the East Potomac Golf Links.
PHOTO: EPA
- A US judge stopped more tree-cutting at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, after hundreds of healthy trees were already removed for Donald Trump’s golf course plan.
- Judge Ana Reyes ordered no more tree damage and said the government must give ten business days’ notice before any major changes, pending the lawsuit.
- Trump wants the public course remade for championship events, but environmental groups and local golfers oppose the work and say the course has been badly rushed.
AI generated
WASHINGTON – A US federal judge ruled on Oct 26 to halt tree-cutting at a public golf course in the heart of the capital, after hundreds of trees were felled in President Donald Trump’s pet project.
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 early demolition for the overhaul had charged ahead despite an environmental group’s lawsuit, and opposition from local golfers who argue the 100-year-old course is a rare spot where they can affordably play the sport.
“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 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 said construction was set to start in November on the 18-hole course.
He insisted on Oct 26 that the site would close for renovation as scheduled on Nov 15 and pledged to appeal Reyes’ decision.
“The judge has absolutely no right to hold up this very important and beautiful Project,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
More than 500 trees have already been cut down, the judge wrote.
The court “does not speak for the trees,” Reyes wrote in her order, in reference to the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax.
“It speaks only for the rule of law,” she said. AFP