Trump slams Maryland governor, launches federal effort to protect Potomac after historic sewage spill

President Donald Trump ordered an all-of-government effort to protect the District of Columbia’s water supply and slammed Maryland Gov. Wes Moore as a sewage pipe interceptor rupture in Cabin John has released an estimated 240 million gallons into the Potomac River. 

The break was first noticed on security cameras off the Clara Barton Parkway just north of the District line Jan. 19, and within several days, crews from DC Water were able to segregate much of the spill into the paralleling Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, according to local reports.

The pipe takes wastewater from several towns in the John F. Dulles International Airport area all the way to Washington, where it is processed farther downstream at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Anacostia, D.C.

"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 said in a Truth Social post late Monday.

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"This is the same Governor who cannot rebuild a bridge. It is clear local authorities cannot adequately handle this calamity," Trump said, referring to the newly elongated timeline and reported projected multi-billion-dollar cost-projection overruns for the rebuilding of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge on the Baltimore Beltway.

The catastrophe affects the region’s other Francis Scott Key Bridge in Georgetown, D.C., as Trump alluded to the explosion in E.coli counts downriver from the spill.

"I am directing Federal Authorities to immediately provide all necessary Management, Direction, and Coordination to protect the Potomac, the Water Supply in the Capital Region, and our treasured National Resources in our Nation’s Capital City," Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social. "While State and Local Authorities have failed to request needed Emergency Help, I cannot allow incompetent Local ‘Leadership’ to turn the River in the Heart of Washington into a Disaster Zone." 

Moore spokesperson Ammar Moussa blasted Trump in response, saying he has his "facts wrong — again."

"Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people's health at risk," Moussa said. "Notably, the president’s own EPA explicitly refused to participate in the major legislative hearing about the cleanup last Friday."

"Apparently the Trump administration hadn’t gotten the memo that they’re actually supposed to be in charge here," Moussa said. 

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Trump also cited the Palisades fire in California, saying that Democratic officials have a "war on merit" with "real consequences."

He also noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is currently subject to a partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security. 

"FEMA, which is currently being defunded by the Democrats, will play a key role in coordinating the response," he said, as many of those workers may go unpaid.

Maryland state Del. Linda Foley, D-Potomac, whose district is just upstream from the spill, said at an Annapolis, Maryland, hearing that it has been characterized to her as "one of the worst ecological disasters in the eastern part of the United States."

Moussa said that Maryland, by contrast, has taken action — pointing to the shellfish fishery closure downstream to the Nice Bridge — and told Fox News Digital that Annapolis sent personnel "within hours" to help coordinate the response and protect drinking water in Montgomery County.

"The Potomac isn’t a talking point, and the people of the region deserve serious leadership that meets the moment."

Moore’s Department of the Environment did issue an emergency closure for shellfish harvesting downstream of the spill, as ecological effects are being felt all the way at the Harry Nice Bridge where U.S. 301 crosses between Bel Alton, Maryland, and Dahlgren, Virginia, nearly 60 miles south of Washington.

Rather than most cases where a state line runs down the center of a waterway, Maryland controls nearly all the Potomac — save for the part where the District of Columbia briefly covers the Old Line State’s historical boundaries.

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The unique boundary also is why eccentricities like Lady Bird Johnson Island, on the "Virginia side" of the Potomac near the Pentagon, are actually in the District of Columbia.

David Gadis, CEO of DC Water, 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."

"Our immediate priorities have been containment, environmental monitoring, and stabilization - working closely with federal, state, and local partners to assess water quality, ecological impacts, and necessary remediation," he wrote.