아래는 The Washington Post 2026년 1월 7일 기사입니다.
수요일, 공중 보건 옹호자들(Public health advocates)은 백악관 이스트 윙 별관의 재빠른 철거로 현장 종사자나 대중에게 위험한 건축 자재에 노출되었는지의 여부를 공개하도록 트럼프 행정부를 고소했습니다.
지난 11월, 석면질병 인식기구(Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization)는 정보자유법에 따라 관련 자료를 받기 위한 신청서를 제출했지만 아직 관련 문서를 받지 못했다면서 는 백악관이 철거 프로젝트의 일환으로 석면 검사, 공기 모니터링, 폐기물 처리 안전 조치 및 기타 법적으로 요구되는 조치를 수행했는지 여부를 설명할 것을 요구하고 있습니다.
이스트윙은 1902년에 지어지고 1942년에 내부 개조를 하였습니다.
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Public health advocates sued the Trump administration Wednesday to compel officials to disclose whether their rapid demolition of the White House’s East Wing annex exposed workers or the public to hazardous building materials.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, which filed Freedom of Information Act requests in November but says it has yet to receive any relevant documents, is demanding that the White House explain whether it undertook asbestos inspections, air monitoring, waste disposal safeguards and other legally required steps as part of its demolition project.
Linda Reinstein, the organization’s leader, said she and colleagues decided to seek answers after watching clouds of dust billow from the construction site as demolition crews reduced the decades-old White House annex to rubble, tearing the structure down in three days as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to build an expansive White House ballroom.
“We’re using the law to get the government to respond with the public health information that all Americans deserve to know,” Reinstein said in an interview. Her organization’s lawsuit names as defendants the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Executive Office of the President, accusing them of failing to respond to FOIA requests about efforts to mitigate risks associated with asbestos, which was widely used in building projects at the time of the East Wing’s 1902 construction and 1942 renovation.
Concerns about asbestos risks have loomed since the Trump administration’s rapid demolition of the East Wing in October, which caught local leaders off guard and ignited nationwide alarm that the historic site would be torn down with no apparent oversight. The site also quickly became a tourist attraction, with crowds seeking to catch a glimpse of the work even as potentially hazardous dust and debris swirled.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about asbestos abatement efforts at the East Wing site and whether it would release documents about that work. Officials have previously said that “extensive” abatement efforts were undertaken in September, before the East Wing’s demolition, but they shared no further details. Contractors involved in the project have referred questions to the White House.
Federal public records requests typically take months and even years to fulfill, but most of the agencies who received the requests in this case agencies failed to make required FOIA determinations within statutory deadlines.
In addition, no notification of asbestos abatement work was filed with the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment for the project, unlike prior White House projects across both Republican and Democratic administrations, according to records obtained through a FOIA request and shared with The Post.
The absence of those local records does not necessarily mean asbestos abatement did not occur. Maryland officials told The Washington Post that they have seen documentation of asbestos abatement at the East Wing. Officials reviewed the project because some demolition-related materials were transported to a concrete crushing, screening and recycling facility in Hyattsville, Maryland.
“Our review, which included sampling and analysis of demolition material at the Maryland facility, along with a review of documentation of asbestos abatement performed at the East Wing before demolition, found no indication of any asbestos waste in Maryland,” David Abrams, communications director for Maryland’s environmental department, wrote in an email. Abrams said his colleagues did not visit the East Wing site as part of their review, and that they could not share the documents with reporters because the department did have not the documents in its possession.
When asked if they had conducted tests of any demolition material, the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment did not respond. Dirt excavated from the White House grounds was trucked south to the East Potomac Golf Course that hugs the Potomac River.
The EPA referred questions about abatement efforts to the White House.
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Advocates sue Trump officials for answers on East Wing asbestos risks 
