Donald Trump castigated local and state Democratic officials on Tuesday over the sewage spill into the Potomac River, claiming the federal government would help if these leaders asked him “politely” for help.
“Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who are responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, must get to work, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed. The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it.”
“This is a Radical Left caused Environmental Hazard,” he added. “With all of their talk about carbon footprints and everything else, they’re allowing hundreds of tons of sewage to pour into the Mighty Potomac, making it much less mighty.”
Officials disputed Trump’s characterization of the spill, which began in January in Maryland when an aging sewer line burst and has largely already been contained.
“I know this is breaking news to everyone, but the president is not telling the truth,” Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a frequent target of criticism from Trump, told reporters. “Because what you’re looking at with the Piedmont sewage project, that’s not something that the federal government has had responsibility for for the past year; it’s not something that the federal government has had responsibility for the past decade — in fact, the federal government has had responsibility for that for the past century.”
“Now that it is essentially 99 percent contained, I love the fact that the president of the United States is finally realizing that this was his job, and he hasn’t been doing it for the past month,” Moore added. “So I say, ‘Listen, we’d welcome you to help to address the remaining 1 percent that hasn’t been completed while we’ve been doing your job.'”
“We have been coordinating with U.S. EPA since the Potomac Interceptor collapsed and appreciate the ongoing support and counsel they have provided,” DC Water CEO and General Manager David L. Gadis said in a statement provided to The Independent. “Just last week, we hosted the Assistant Administrator for Water for a tour of the site and briefing on the project and the progress made to date.”
Repairs are due for completion within four to six weeks, the agency said.
The spill, which sent an estimated 243 million gallons of wastewater into the Potomac, has not impacted the safety of local drinking water, according to officials.
The Independent has contacted Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger for comment.
The president’s comments follow a similar tirade yesterday, in which Trump vowed FEMA would take a key role in responding to the spill and blamed the crisis on Moore, whom he previously barred from a White House meeting of state governors.
“There is a massive Ecological Disaster unfolding in the Potomac River as a result of the Gross Mismanagement of Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.
The president also criticized Democrats over the ongoing partial government shutdown, which impacts funds for FEMA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
Moore has said Trump’s decision to exclude him from the governors’ meeting, set to take place this week, could be due to his race. Moore is the only sitting Black governor in the U.S.
The Maryland Democrat previously provoked Trump’s ire after criticizing administration threats to deploy the National Guard to Baltimore.
Source: independent.co.uk