Trump Tower sued over use of water from Chicago River

The Trump International Hotel & Tower is being sued by the Illinois Attorney General’s office for allegedly flouting Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are designed to limit pollution into the Chicago River.

The lawsuit alleges the city’s second-tallest tower lapsed in its application for a state permit allowing its intake system to suck 19.7 million gallons from the river each day and dump warmer, dirtier water in its place, according to Crain’s.

The permit, whose absence was flagged in June by a Chicago Tribune investigation, requires the building to demonstrate its taking steps to limit the number of fish being killed by the intake system.

The EPA is asking a judge to order an immediate halt to the tower’s water intake system and fine the building $10,000 for each day it has violated the state’s rules.

An ethics disclosure by President Donald Trump revealed this spring that his organization made at least $8 million off the tower in 2017.

But the president’s affiliation with the building isn’t necessarily all positive, as evidenced by brokers who’ve dropped Trump’s name from their marketing efforts to fill the 92-story tower’s long-vacant ground-floor retail space. [Crain’s] — Alex Nitkin