Overview
- The Department of the Interior awarded a one-year $2.7 million contract to American Ag Energy on Thursday with options that could extend the work to roughly $8.8 million over additional years, and the company says it will run biological and chemical profiling before treating the water.
- The project has cost far more than originally promised by President Trump, growing from an early $1.5–$2 million estimate to reports of more than $14–$16 million after repainting, a new liner and follow-up repairs.
- The pool developed a green algae bloom and a blue liner began peeling after contractors refilled it, and an earlier $1.7 million effort using ozone nanobubble technology did not stop the algae.
- Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against people accused of damaging the pool after a DC U.S. Attorney filing called the Interior’s renovation “hasty and botched,” which shifted scrutiny from alleged vandalism to project management and procurement choices.
- American Ag’s CEO Richard Rosen says his team will eliminate the algae, but his past voter-fraud conviction was overturned this year and the case was remanded, a reputational detail that adds to questions about contractor selection and oversight.