Reflecting Pool saga continues with another contractor hired to clean the algae

By Kaanita Iyer, Sunlen Serfaty, CNN

(CNN) — In a months-long summer saga that does not appear to want to end, the Trump administration has hired yet another new company to help clean and maintain the Lincoln Reflecting Pool — adding more cost and more questions to the renovation project that was meant to be a showcase of the country’s 250th birthday.

The Department of Interior, which is overseeing the renovation project, will pay $2.7 million to American Ag Energy, a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in renewable energy technology, for repairs and maintenance of sewage and water purification systems at the pool, according to details of the government contract and the company’s owner.

The one-year contract, awarded last week, could be extended for five additional years and grow up to $8.8 million.

The Department of Interior did not follow up with CNN on questions about the new contract or how it would fit into the other work that has been done on the Reflecting Pool.

Richard Rosen, the CEO of American Ag Energy, told CNN that he learned about the algae problem from one of the directors of his company and later read a news report about it.

“I realized that I actually knew how to solve this problem,” Rosen said. He added, referring to NPS: “They want me to solve it the right way, okay, and they’re doing a very good job, trying to do the right thing and I will be very helpful to them.”

But the contract award comes with another twist, further adding to the drama around the renovation project.

Last year, Rosen was convicted of voter fraud, for casting ballots twice in the 2016 election — once in Massachusetts and the other time in New Hampshire. The conviction, for which Rosen faced a seven-day jail sentence along with losing his right to vote in New Hampshire, was overturned by the state supreme court earlier this year over what it ruled were incorrect evidentiary rulings by a superior court judge during his trial. Rosen said he’s in mediation with the New Hampshire attorney general’s office over the charges, which can be refiled after the case was remanded back to the Grafton County Superior Court.

CNN has reached out to the New Hampshire attorney general’s office for additional information.

Growing price tag with more drama

Those details are just one part of the drama that has surrounded the renovation of an iconic DC landmark that has greeted tourists since the early 1920s.

A major concern has been the project’s cost, which has escalated over the course of the year.

The president initially estimated renovations to cost around $2 to $3 million but later revised the projection to “less than $20 million.”

As of this summer, with the newest contract factored in, the cost has surpassed $14 million.

Trump vowed to restore the landmark as part of his executive order to make the nation’s capital “safe and beautiful.” However, the renovation project has been plagued with issues from the start.

After the president rode in his motorcade across the drained pool in May to survey the site, the bottom — which had long been gray — was outfitted with a liner the color of “American flag blue.” When it was later refilled, algae turned the pool green.

The administration deployed Greenwater Services, an Ohio-based company whose co-owner, J.J. Cafaro, is a longtime supporter and donor to Trump, to clean up the algae. Cafaro pleaded guilty in 2001 to conspiracy to bribe Rep. James Traficant Jr., an Ohio Democrat. The company’s executives said he is not involved in its day-to-day operations.

Under a $1.7 million contract, Greenwater used ozone nanobubbler technology to clean the reflecting pool water. But the problem remained. To make matters worse, the blue material at the bottom of the pool began peeling shortly after, a setback the president claimed was caused by vandals.

The saga heated up this summer when multiple people were arrested and charged with damaging the pool, an offense that, for most of them, would have meant a $1,000 fine and a maximum of 180 days in prison if found guilty. Olympian canoeist David Hearn, the most prominent of the group, faced as many as 10 years in prison after he was indicted in July for a felony charge of destruction of property. The Justice Department later dropped the criminal case against Hearn, with DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office acknowledging in a court filing that the Department of Interior’s renovation of the pool was “hasty and botched,” a conclusion that prompted Trump to criticize Pirro.

“I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. A few days later, the charges against the other defendants were also dropped.

With Trump continuing to lay blame on vandals, the task of removing the algae now falls to Rosen’s company.

Rosen told CNN that he and a few members of his team are now in the process of surveying the pool.

“They want me to solve it the right way, okay, and they’re doing a very good job, trying to do the right thing and I will be very helpful to them.”

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