Trump's repainting of Lincoln Reflecting Pool likely to move forward

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday didn’t seem inclined to halt the ongoing project to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to “American flag” blue due to suggestions that it could ultimately be repainted the original dark gray.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation wants U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to freeze the project on the basis the government was wrong to unilaterally move forward on a project that requires congressional notice and a review process.

President Donald Trump announced the project on April 23, setting a deadline for the 250th anniversary celebrations throughout Washington on July 4.

He awarded a $6.9 million no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which previously worked on projects at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.

Such projects require the government go through a bidding process to find the most cost-effective and reliable contractor. To award this contract, the Trump administration invoked an exemption meant for urgent situations to prevent “serious injury, financial or other, to the government,” and only pointed to the July Fourth celebration, the nonprofit said in its lawsuit.

Nichols, a Trump appointee, grilled the foundations’ attorneys, Alexander Kristofcak and Joseph Mead of the Washington Litigation Group, to explain why any potential aesthetic injury required his immediate intervention rather than a later ruling on the merits.

Mead argued that the epoxy primer material to be used on the pool floor is meant to be permanent and would alter the “historic character” of the reflecting pool for a significant amount of time.

“By not making things worse, it becomes easier to restore the pool back to its status quo,” Mead said.

Nichols seemed unconvinced, noting the government’s argument that the pool’s character is dependent on its ability to clearly reflect the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, and asked whether there was much difference between gray and blue when compared to something like Chinese silver.

Mead asserted that such questions strike at the core of its complaint, that such issues should have been addressed in a review process, rather than the streamlined review the administration has undergone.

Speaking in the Oval Office on April 23, Trump said the color choice would ultimately make the pool “much better than it ever was” since its construction in 1922.

The Trump administration has defended the project as necessary to repair and improve the pool basin, which faces significant issues caused by faulty plumbing in its filtration system that results in a recurring layer of green algae each year.

Trump’s project does not include work to address the structural issues and will likely require further repairs in the coming years.

Nichols also pressed Justice Department attorney John Heise to explain how the nonprofit and its members would not suffer an aesthetic injury from the first color change at the reflecting pool in its 104-year history.

He asked a hypothetical where the Lincoln Memorial itself were suddenly repainted a slightly different shade of white versus a completely different color, and whether the harm would be the same in either case.

Heise pointed to the D.C. Circuit case *Environmental Defense Fund v. FERC,*where an individual sued to block construction of a natural gas pipeline that was an eyesore but was denied standing. The foundation’s arguments in this case should be similarly denied, Heise said.

Nichols asked whether the epoxy could be removed or have its color ultimately changed, to which Heise said it could not be removed but could be repainted.

Nichols suggested he could later order the government to restore the reflecting pool to its state the last time the government undertook a significant improvement, 2012, and the dark gray coloring at the time.

Heise agreed, but urged Nichols to wait rather than leave “an empty pool for the pendency of this case.”

Mead rebutted that if it’s anyone’s fault that the pool could be left empty for the nation’s 250th anniversary, it was the government’s for undertaking the project in the first place.

The project is just the latest effort by Trump to remake the nation’s capital in his image, a growing list that includes his demolition of the East Wing and construction of a ballroom, the proposed demolition of the Kennedy Center and the proposed 250-foot “Independence Arch.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has already blocked construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom — while allowing construction on an underground bunker to move forward — finding the president failed to obtain congressional approval. That case is now before the D.C. Circuit.

The Commission of Fine Arts, largely dominated by Trump appointees, voted on Thursday to approve designs for the arch. The National Capital Planning Commission is set to review designs on June 4.

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