Golfer

WASHINGTON — Debris from the demolition of the White House East Wing that was dumped at a nearby public golf course has tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals, the National Park Service said.

An interim report by a Virginia engineering firm says the toxic metals, along with PCBs, pesticides, petroleum byproducts and other chemicals were detected at levels above laboratory reporting limits in soil at the East Potomac Golf Links, a historic golf course that President Trump plans to renovate.

The park service began dumping debris from the East Wing onto the golf course in October, and more than 810,000 cubic feet of excavated soil had been transported to the site as of last month, the report by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said. The report was requested by the park service.

The nonprofit DC Preservation League has sued the Trump administration, arguing that the dumping was unlawful and possibly hazardous. The group also is challenging the Republican administration’s takeover of the golf course, about two miles southeast of the White House, and others in the city.

The suit is one of several legal battles challenging Trump’s extraordinary efforts to put his mark on public spaces in the nation’s capital, including renaming and shuttering the Kennedy Center and building a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial.

At the end of last year, a separate group of preservationists filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the administration from demolishing the East Wing so it could build a ballroom, a project slated to cost $400 million.

A spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the park service, said in an email Tuesday that the soil removed from the White House “was tested multiple times by multiple parties, and this project passed all standards set by law.”

Although the agency does not comment on litigation, “this thorough process was followed to ensure the transfer was safe for the public,’’ the email said.

The Preservation League’s executive director, Rebecca Miller, said Tuesday that experts were still analyzing the engineering report. The group also is concerned about whether the Trump administration is complying with federal laws including the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, she said.

Debris from the East Wing demolition is so prevalent that it causes golfers to detour around piles of it, Miller said. “If you Google you’ll see lots of photos of golfers walking past it,” she said in an interview.

The Trump administration’s plans to renovate the 105-year-old course to make it a professional-level course would permanently alter its historic character and layout, Miller said.

A federal judge told the government on Monday not to cut down more than 10 trees without first providing notice amid the legal dispute.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said during a remote hearing that she wasn’t going to issue a temporary restraining order just yet, but she indicated she would take a harsh view of any major alterations made without prior notice.

Democracy Forward, a national legal organization that is co-representing the Preservation League, said in a press release that “further scrutiny will be required related to potential toxins that were dumped at East Potomac Park by the administration as part of the destruction of the East Wing of the White House.”

Test results released by the government “suggest the Defendants dumped a cocktail of contaminants — and despite indications of the refuse’s contents, they continued dumping it,” the group said.

Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks for the park service, said during Monday’s court hearing there was no immediate plan to begin tree removal but added that a safety assessment was underway.

Trump, an avid golfer, also plans on renovating a military golf course just outside Washington that has been used by past presidents going back decades.

In its statement, the Interior Department said it is “committed to continuing the relationships we have built with the local golf communities to ensure these courses are safe, beautiful, open, affordable, enjoyable, accessible, and world-class for people living in and visiting the greatest capital city in the world.”

Daly and Fields write for the Associated Press.

Italian Andrea Pavan said he is “optimistic” about a return to playing after he fell down an open lift shaft in February.

The incident occurred before the South African Open at Pavan’s private accommodation near Stellenbosch Golf Club when the lift doors opened but there was no lift car in the shaft, causing him to drop three storeys down.

The 36-year-old was taken to a local hospital with severe shoulder damage and fractures to several vertebrae in his back, and had major surgery.

“It’s hard to say a precise goal, there’s more like steps,” said Pavan.

“Around three months we’ll see how well the bone has healed. Around six months it’s about where complete bone healing happens and we’ll see how the joint is moving by then.

“It depends on if there are other tissues that were damaged if I need a second surgery. And there’s the possibility of necrosis when the blood flow is not sufficient for the bones. There is that risk, but so far it seems like things are positive enough.

“The shoulder is a very demanding joint. Hopefully it’s a little less than a year that I can play with a full swing but it’s just so new and such a big injury there are just a lot of unknowns. But I’m hopeful and the only thing I can do is to try and improve and take it day by day.”

On the day of the incident, Pavan had been preparing to drive to the Stellenbosch course for breakfast and an afternoon pro-am tee, when he returned to his apartment to retrieve a locker key that had been left there.

Speaking to the Naga Munchetty programme on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: “I walked back towards the elevator, I opened the door – one of those doors that get into the apartment straight away – and by the time I realised the lift wasn’t there I’d already taken a step.

“The next thing I know I’m just at the bottom of the elevator, luckily not unconscious but in a lot of pain and screaming for help.

“Somebody heard and I was somehow able to get my phone out and call my caddie, who was in the car. From then on it was just trying to survive the pain and waiting for the ambulance and all the firefighters who got me out.”

The two-time DP World Tour winner spent seven days in hospital in South Africa, having surgery on a complete fracture of his shoulder, and has now returned to his home in Texas.

Pavan paid tribute to the “amazing” support from the golfing world during his time in hospital.

“The amount of people who came to the hospital to visit me when the tournament was happening was truly overwhelming,” he said.

“There were a lot of players – friends of mine – who actually stayed up to 2am and waited for me to get out of surgery and they were playing in the tournament the next day, Matteo Manassero, Manuel Oliveira and others.

“I was just truly surprised and it was comforting and overwhelming to feel you were not alone going through this.”