Trump Tower Chicago Ordered to Pay $4.8 Million for Fish Kills

Trump Tower is finally paying up after years of legal wrangling.

The tower’s operator has agreed to pay $4.8 million to settle allegations that its cooling-water intake system killed thousands of fish in the Chicago River over several years, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The tower is held by the Trump Organization, a conglomerate owned by President Donald Trump.

The proposed settlement, which still requires approval from a Cook County judge, resolves lawsuits filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River.

The environmental groups and state officials alleged that the skyscraper at 401 North Wabash Avenue has been operating without a valid Illinois environmental permit since at least 2018, when the lawsuits were first filed, a decade after the Trump Tower opened in 2008. They also accused the tower operator of failing for years to accurately report water discharge levels into the Chicago River.

In September 2024, after six years of litigation, a Cook County judge sided with the state, declaring the building a “public nuisance.”

The court found that the tower’s operations substantially interfered with the public’s right to fish and recreate in the river, a ruling that set the stage for the settlement negotiations.

Under the proposed agreement, approximately $3 million will go toward Chicago River habitat improvements, while $1.5 million will be paid as a civil penalty to the state, and the remainder will cover litigation costs.

Representatives of the Trump Organization have not publicly commented.

The state of Illinois is taking on Trump in political ways as well. The Illinois General Assembly is moving to expand legal protections for news reports on public-interest topics.

Inspired in part by a defamation lawsuit filed against the Chicago Sun-Times over its previous coverage of the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, lawmakers advanced Senate Bill 1181 this month to explicitly protect the press under Illinois’ anti-SLAPP statute, Capitol News Illinois reported.

The Sun-Times had reported former appeals board chair Mauro Glorioso of being accused of saying “he wanted a large reduction in the assessment of Trump Tower because the owner of the property was the president of the United States.”

The bill, which cleared the House last week and is awaiting final Senate approval, would shield news organizations from lawsuits designed to stifle reporting on matters of public concern.

— Judah Duke