Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago for allegedly violating environmental laws and “jeopardizing fish and aquatic life in the Chicago River,” she announced Tuesday.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court, accused Trump Tower of releasing “millions of gallons of heated water per day into the Chicago River” without studying the impact that could have on the river’s fish. It also alleged the building does not have the required permit to do so.
The suit also claims the building pulls in nearly 20 million gallons of water from the river each day to help cool the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. It alleges that no study results were submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for doing so in 2013.
“The federal Clean Water Act regulates cooling water intake structures because they can pull large volumes of fish into a building’s cooling system Fish and other aquatic organisms can also get trapped against intake screens,” a release from Madigan’s office states.
“We are disappointed that the Illinois Attorney General would choose to file this suit considering such items are generally handled at the administrative level," a spokesperson for Trump Tower said in a statement. "One can only conclude that this decision was motivated by politics.”
