Overview
- The National Park Service quietly awarded about $2.7 million to American Ag Energy for maintenance, repair and rebuilding of the Reflecting Pool’s water and sewage treatment systems.
- That one-year contract can be extended for up to five more years and grow to about $8.8 million, and it raises total project spending to roughly $19–20 million after prior awards.
- The effort began as a Trump-ordered, low-cost refresh before the nation’s 250th July Fourth, but the liner was relined in blue, then began peeling and the pool quickly suffered recurring green algae.
- Multiple no-bid and rapid contracts were used as vendors were switched from Atlantic Industrial Coatings to Greenwater Services and now American Ag Energy, and an earlier nanobubble ozone system failed to stop the algae.
- Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against people accused of damaging the liner after a U.S. Attorney wrote that Interior’s renovation was “hasty and botched,” a finding that has fueled political pressure and left open the possibility of further legal action.