FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Contacts: Hannah Lee Flath, hannahlee.flath@sierraclub.org, 860-634-0225
Environmental Groups Sue Trump International for Clean Water Act Violations; Illinois Attorney General Also Takes Action
Amended lawsuit is the latest in a five-year legal battle over Trump International’s violations of the Clean Water Act
CHICAGO, IL. -- Sierra Club Illinois and Friends of the Chicago River yesterday filed an amended complaint against Trump International for failing to accurately compute and report the rate at which the skyscraper withdraws water from the Chicago River by approximately 44%, thus underestimating its impact on the river. Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River’s expert witness identified this year that, for over a decade, Trump Tower has been recording their flow rates in gallons per minute, but reporting that data to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) as millions of gallons per day. In light of these additional violations of the Clean Water Act, Attorney General Kwame Raoul also today filed an amended complaint against Trump International on behalf of the State of Illinois.
Sierra Club Illinois and Friends of the Chicago River initially filed a Notice of Intent to sue Trump Tower in 2018 for constructing the building without federally-required protections for aquatic wildlife and without performing federally-required studies of the impacts of its water withdrawal from the Chicago River. Former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan subsequently took up the violations identified by Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River and filed suit against Trump Tower, and Sierra Club Illinois and Friends of the Chicago River intervened in that case. The environmental organizations have litigated the 2018 case under a common interest agreement with the State, which includes testimony from the only independent environmental expert in the litigation. In July of this year, Sierra Club Illinois and Friends of the Chicago River announced a Notice of Intent to sue Trump Tower for misreporting its flow rates.
Sierra Club Illinois and Friends of the Chicago River released the following statement:
“We’re taking this new action to protect the Chicago River in light of new disclosures that Trump International continues to disregard the Clean Water Act and has failed to operate their building responsibly,” said Sierra Club Illinois Director Jack Darin. “The Chicago River is a place where wildlife habitats can flourish, Illinoisans can recreate, and businesses along the Riverwalk can boom because of protections under the Clean Water Act. By flouting the federal law, Trump International is jeopardizing the Chicago River’s wonderful recovery. We look forward to working alongside Attorney General Kwame Raoul to hold Trump International accountable for their continued, egregious violations of the Clean Water Act.”
“The saga of Trump International’s violations of the Clean Water Act has gone on for far too long, and we look forward to working with the Attorney General to ensure that justice is finally served and the Chicago River is fully protected,” said Friends of the Chicago River Executive Director Margaret Frisbie. “We have worked for decades to transform the health of the river, and want to protect those investments and the people, fish, and other wildlife which benefit from them. We must support aquatic species, not destroy them.”
“As we've worked through the discovery process in this case, we've turned over every rock. Underneath each one, we've found more examples of an organization that is unwilling to even try to comply with the law,” said Rob Weinstock, Director of the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and counsel to Sierra Club and Friends of the Chicago River. “We look forward to continuing to bring our expertise to litigate this case alongside the AG's office and achieve a result that forces Trump Tower into compliance and advances the health of the Chicago River."