WASHINGTON, February 19. /TASS/. Sewage discharges into the Potomac River, which flows through Washington, threaten an environmental disaster, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing.
She expressed hope that authorities in Maryland and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, would "ask the federal government for help." According to her, this would enable federal authorities to deploy resources "and take control of this local infrastructure that has been abandoned and neglected by Governor [of Maryland Wes] Moore."
"Let's all hope and pray that this governor does the right thing and asks President [of the US Donald] Trump to get involved, because it will be an ecological and environmental disaster if the federal government does not step in to help. But of course, we need the state and local jurisdictions to make that formal request," Leavitt said.
Earlier, US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said that municipal and environmental services had begun cleaning up a major pollution incident in the Potomac River. White House host Donald Trump noted that a major environmental disaster was unfolding in Maryland due to a sewer pipe rupture that polluted the river.