Trump organization to pay $4.8 million to settle fish-kill lawsuit against its Chicago high-rise

Michael Hawthorne, Chicago Tribune on May 22, 2025

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CHICAGO — Eight months after a Cook County judge found Trump Tower repeatedly violated clean water laws, the president’s business operators agreed Thursday to pay $4.8 million to settle lawsuits alleging the skyscraper’s cooling system killed untold numbers of fish in the Chicago River.

The glass-and-steel tower, emblazoned with a sign spelling “TRUMP” in letters more than 20 feet high, is one of the city’s largest users of river water for its cooling systems. It siphons nearly 20 million gallons a day through intakes so powerful the machines could fill an Olympic swimming pool in less than an hour, then pumps the water back into the river up to 35 degrees hotter.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and two environmental groups discovered Trump Tower had been operating for years without a valid Clean Water Act permit, unlike other downtown buildings that limit the power of water pumps to protect fish and other aquatic organisms from being pinned against intake screens or killed by sudden changes in pressure and temperature.

“The Chicago River is one of our city’s most treasured natural resources, and future generations should benefit from the opportunities for recreation and commerce it provides,” Raoul said in a statement announcing the settlement.

If a county judge approves the deal, $3 million will go toward Chicago River habitat improvement and the state will collect a $1.5 million civil penalty. The rest will cover legal costs.

Trump Organization representatives have never replied to requests for comment from The Chicago Tribune, which first reported in 2018 that the Trump International Hotel & Tower was the only Chicago high-rise that had failed to document measures it took to protect fish and aquatic life in the river.

Trump’s Chicago managers were required to conduct a study of fish killed by the luxury hotel and condominium complex as a condition of a 2013 water pollution permit granted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The permit expired in 2017 and has not been renewed.

All other users of river water have filed documents with the state outlining how their cooling systems limit fish kills. Most draw substantially less water than Trump Tower and slow the velocity of their intakes to increase the chances fish can swim away safely, records reviewed by the Tribune show.

In response to lawsuits filed eight years ago by the Sierra Club, Friends of the Chicago River and Raoul’s predecessor, Lisa Madigan, the Trump Organization agreed to complete long-delayed studies of how many fish and other aquatic organisms are pinned against intake screens or killed by sudden changes in pressure and temperature.

Not only did the Trump Organization fail to complete the necessary studies, it significantly underestimated the rate at which river water is sucked into the hotel and condo high-rise, making it appear the practice is less harmful than it actually is, Cook County Circuit Judge Thaddeus Wilson ruled in September after the attorney general’s office and the environmental groups sued again.