The way the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has made everyone look bad is almost like something out of a movie. For the celebrations of the country’s 250th birthday, the water was supposed to be clear and proud. Instead, it turned green with blue lines floating in it and was surrounded by police tape. It is now the subject of a federal lawsuit, several criminal charges, and an investigation by Congress. The renovation project was supposed to be easy and quick, but it’s turned out to be anything but that.
In late April, President Trump announced the plan. He said the pool was “terrible” and “filthy,” and he promised a clean pool for less than $2 million that would be done before the Fourth of July. The promise made sense from a political point of view; it was a clear, patriotic fix to a beloved landmark that came at the perfect time for a national celebration of history. In reality, things were different. The final deal with Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which is based in Virginia, was worth $14.7 million. That’s more than seven times the original estimate, and it was given to a company with ties to the administration without any bids being made.
In and of itself, the work was done in early June. On the bottom of the pool, the joints were sealed and the concrete was painted in a color that the officials called “American flag blue.” Algae bloomed on the surface and turned it green in just a few days. Newly applied coating started to peel off in chunks that slid to the top. Hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble technology were used by the Interior Department to try to clear the water. It didn’t work. A lot of dead ducks were found near the pool, which is why the Center for Biological Diversity asked that the chemicals or the peeling paint be looked into.
At the heart of this story is the lawsuit against Trump for renovating the Lincoln Memorial. It was filed in May by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a non-profit preservation group led by Charles Birnbaum. The lawsuit says the government didn’t do the reviews that were required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. It was made clear in an amended complaint filed on July 2: the problems with the pool are the result of plans that were made too quickly and without enough thought. Even though a federal judge hasn’t made a decision yet, the lawsuit is still going on and the legal pressure isn’t going away.
Things were even stranger when the administration did nothing about the obvious decline. White House officials blamed vandals instead of admitting that there were problems with the materials or the schedule. Trump said that “crazy and deranged lunatics” had put chemicals into the water and used a box cutter to make a 300-foot cut in the pool liner. On national TV, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum repeated this story, but he couldn’t say for sure if there was photographic evidence of that specific act.
Experts didn’t believe it. A biological sciences professor at Wright State University named Wayne Carmichael told PBS News that no one could put algae into a pool and see results in just a few hours. A big part of the administration’s public account was quietly weakened by that comment.
Charges of crime were still brought forward. David Hearn, 67, was charged with felony destruction of property after being an Olympic canoeist for the United States. Authorities say he pulled up sealant material with both hands, which hurt more than $1,000. His lawyers said the charges were ridiculous and said the government was using the courts to make political cover. At least seven other people have been charged with vandalism at the site. It’s important to note that Hearn has denied doing anything wrong.
The New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which worked on the renovation of the same pool in 2010, was asked to do this project but turned it down. Two employees who spoke to CNN said that the job could not be done because of the July 4 deadline and the need to paint the bottom blue. The materials used came from Rhino Linings, a company that is better known for coating truck beds.
Burgum said last Sunday that the same contractor will do the repairs and won’t be looking for new bidders. He said the work they did was “fantastic.” Now, about ten Democratic lawmakers want to know more about the contracts that were awarded without bids, the records of water quality, and the cost overruns. As the project drags on, it seems like the pool has lost some of its national pride and is now more of a test of how accountability works when a project goes wrong in full view of everyone.
