Illinois sues Trump Chicago property for allegedly violating river protection rules

Illinois’s attorney general is suing a Chicago property owned by President Trump’s company, alleging that it is violating environmental laws meant to protect the Chicago River.

The Trump International Hotel and Tower takes in nearly 20 million gallons of water daily from the river for cooling various systems and puts it back at a higher temperature.

Federal law requires the building to submit certain data about its water intake procedures to Illinois environmental regulators to help determine if it is causing too much harm to fish and aquatic life, submissions that Madigan says the property has not done.

{mosads}

Madigan also alleged in a Cook County court that the Trump Tower’s permit to use the water under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System expired nearly a year ago.

“Trump Tower continues to take millions of gallons of water from the Chicago River every day without a permit and without any regard to how it may be impacting the river’s ecosystem,” Madigan said in a Tuesday statement. “I filed my lawsuit to make sure Trump Tower cannot continue violating the law.”

The Trump Chicago property is owned by the Trump Organization, the real estate firm owned by Trump through a revocable trust.

The Trump Organization accused Madigan of filing the lawsuits for political reasons.

“We are disappointed that the Illinois attorney general would choose to file this suit considering such items are generally handled at the administrative level. One can only conclude that this decision was motivated by politics,” the company said.

Madigan is a Democrat and frequent litigant against Trump’s policies, but the lawsuit was filed in part due to a referral by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, part of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s (R) administration.

The Tribune reported that the Trump Tower is the only property on the Chicago River regulated by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System that has not submitted the required environmental data.

The Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River filed paperwork in June formally announcing their intent to sue the Trump building over the river permit, a necessary step before litigation.