Parts of Maryland’s congressional delegation have again weighed in to prohibit the Naval Academy from building a golf course along the Chesapeake Bay.

Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Rep. Sarah Elfreth, all Democrats, released a joint statement Wednesday in response to passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2026. A provision in the act, which passed the Senate on Wednesday and the House last week, “explicitly prohibits the construction of a golf course” on the Greenbury Point peninsula.

The U.S. Naval Academy Athletic Association proposed a golf course at Greenbury Point in 2022. It would be the academy’s second course.

Van Hollen called Greenbury Point, which is one of the few points of Chesapeake Bay coastline open to the public, “a local treasure.”

“Our constituents have said loud and clear that they don’t want to lose access to it, let alone see it razed to become another golf course,” he said in the statement.

A representative of Naval Academy Athletics declined to comment.

Greenbury Point sits at the mouth of the Severn River, just east of Annapolis. It’s Navy property, managed by Naval Support Activity. It’s been open to the public since 1999 and is popular among runners, dog walkers and nature lovers.

Elfreth, whose district includes the Greenbury area, said constructing a golf course on the peninsula is not “mission critical” to the Naval Academy and is not “in service to our nation’s defense.”

Alsobrooks celebrated the provision by saying it “preserves an irreplaceable landscape” that belongs to the public.

The provision being celebrated this year builds on one from 2023, which limited the Navy from unilaterally restricting public access to the peninsula.

Alsobrooks voted for the NDAA in the Senate, and Elfreth voted for it in the House. Van Hollen did not vote for it, though he said it includes provisions he supports, such as the Greenbury Point protections and pay increases for the military.

“However, I ultimately could not support this year’s NDAA while we are confronting a president who is playing politics with our nation’s military and using our troops to advance his authoritarian agenda both here at home and abroad,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

County Executive Steuart Pittmann, who in 2022 expressed interest in the county leasing the Greenbury Point land from the Navy, called the provision “a win for our residents and our environment” in an email statement.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the $900.6 billion spending bill into law.

The Banner’s Brenda Wintrode contributed to this article.