President Trump slams Gov. Moore over 240M gallon sewage disaster
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President Donald Trump has ordered a whole-government effort to protect the District of Columbia’s water supply and criticized Maryland Governor Wes Moore for the release of an estimated 240 million gallons into the Potomac River when a sewer pipe interceptor in Cabin John burst.
The outage was first spotted on security cameras on Clara Barton Parkway just north of the District line on Jan. 19, and within days DC Water crews were able to isolate most of the spill into the parallel Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, according to local reports.
The pipe carries wastewater from various towns in the John F. Dulles International Airport area all the way to Washington, where it is treated further downstream at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Anacostia, DC.
“A major ecological disaster is unfolding on the Potomac River as a result of gross mismanagement by local Democratic leaders, particularly Maryland Governor Wes Moore,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social late Monday.
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Sewage is trapped under debris in the Potomac near Glen Echo, Maryland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“This is the same Governor who can’t rebuild a bridge. It’s clear that local officials cannot adequately deal with this disaster,” Trump said, referring to the newly extended timeline and reporting that the multibillion-dollar cost projection for rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway had been exceeded.
The disaster also affects the district’s other Francis Scott Key Bridge in Georgetown, D.C., as Trump alluded to the spill’s explosion in e.Coli counts downstream.
“I direct Federal Authorities to immediately provide all necessary Management, Direction, and Coordination to protect the Potomac, the Water Supply in the Capital Region, and our precious National Resources in our Nation’s Capital,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “While State and Local Officials have failed to seek necessary Emergency Assistance, I cannot allow incompetent Local ‘Leadership’ to turn the River in the Heart of Washington into a Disaster Area.”
Moore’s spokesman, Ammar Moussa, responded harshly to Trump, saying “the facts are wrong again.”
“For the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, the source of the sewage spill. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk,” Moussa said. he said. “Specifically, the president’s own EPA flatly refused to attend last Friday’s major legislative hearing on the cleanup.”
“It seems like the Trump administration didn’t get the memo that they should be the primary responsibility here,” Moussa said.
Trump also referenced the Palisades fire in California, saying Democratic officials were engaged in a “war of merit” with “real consequences.”
He also noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is currently subject to a partial government shutdown that affects the Department of Homeland Security.
“FEMA, which is currently being defunded by Democrats, will play a key role in coordinating the response,” he said, as many of these workers may not receive wages.
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Sewers at Potmac, left; Workers attempt to repair a pipe in Cabin John, Maryland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
From D-Potomac to Del., Maryland, just upstream of the leak. Linda Foley said at a hearing in Annapolis that it qualifies as “one of the worst ecological disasters in the eastern United States.”
Moussa said Maryland, by contrast, took action by signaling the closure of the shellfish fishery below the Nice Bridge, and told Fox News Digital that Annapolis dispatched personnel “within hours” to coordinate the response and protect drinking water in Montgomery County.
“The Potomac is not a topic for discussion, and the community deserves serious leadership that is appropriate for the times.”
Moore’s Department of the Environment ordered an emergency closure of shellfish harvesting downstream of the spill as ecological impacts were felt at the Harry Nice Bridge, where US 301 crosses between Bel Alton, Maryland, and Dahlgren, Virginia, about 60 miles south of Washington.
Rather than most cases where a state line crosses the middle of a waterway, Maryland controls nearly all of the Potomac—except for the portion where the District of Columbia briefly covers the Old Line State’s historic borders.
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This unique border is also why oddities like Lady Bird Johnson Island, located on the “Virginia side” of the Potomac near the Pentagon, are actually in the District of Columbia.
DC Water CEO David Gadis wrote in an open letter that the Potomac River is a “shared treasure” and that “any event that threatens its health understandably causes concern, frustration, and a sense of loss.”
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“Our immediate priorities have been environmental protection, environmental monitoring, and stabilization, working closely with federal, state, and local partners to assess water quality, ecological impacts, and necessary improvements,” he wrote.
