The US state of Illinois has filed a lawsuit against a tower owned by President Donald Trump in the city of Chicago, alleging the skyscraper is violating environmental laws and is a threat to fish in the Chicago River.
Illinois’ Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced the lawsuit on Tuesday against Trump International Hotel & Tower, the fourth-tallest building in the US and the 27th highest in the world.
The lawsuit said the 92-story residential tower and hotel releases millions of gallons of water into the river each day in order to cool various systems in the building.
It also says the skyscraper has failed to conduct federally mandated studies on the impact of the water’s release into the river, and that the water’s release poses a threat to aquatic life.
“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, who has held the post since 2003, said in a news release.
The Trump Organization’s properties worldwide have come under increasing scrutiny since Trump was elected US president in 2016. Trump resigned from the company, and appointed his sons Don and Eric to run his business in January 2017.
“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 representative for the Trump Organization said in an email. “One can only conclude that this decision was motivated by politics.”
Several US environmental organizations, including the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River said in June they intended to sue Trump International Hotel & Tower over alleged violation of the US Clean Water Act.