No Balls, Big Ballroom, and a Climate Conundrum

Trump’s $200M East Wing project, still stoppable before September, clashes with Zeldin’s EPA rollback as environmental costs mount.

The White House has weathered wars, assassinations, protests, and the shadow of Nixon’s resignation, each president leaving their imprint on the People’s House. Some mend its aging structure, others modernize its spaces, and a few aim to avoid leaving it worse than they found it. Donald Trump, however, is reshaping the White House in the image of his Mar-a-Lago estate, with a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom planned for the East Wing lawn, announced this week by his administration. With construction set to begin in September 2025, the project could still be halted, but Trump’s vision and a deregulatory push from his EPA chief raise doubts about whether environmental concerns will prevail. On CNN’s State of the Union this past Sunday, August 3, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin defended a plan to roll back a key climate regulation, amplifying questions about the administration’s commitment to the environment as the nation debates a glittering but ecologically costly renovation.