Record $4.8 Million Trump Tower Settlement includes $3 Million to Restore Fish Habitat

In a major victory for the Chicago River, a judge approved the proposed $4.8 million environmental settlement between Friends of the Chicago River, the Sierra Club, and the Illinois Attorney General and the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. The Trump Tower is capable of drawing in an estimated 21 million gallons of water from the Chicago River every day to cool the building, but ignored and violated federal and state laws and regulations that require buildings to use systems designed to minimize impacts on aquatic life; accurately report water use, and do so under properly secured permits.

From the settlement agreement, $3 million will go directly toward a Supplemental Environmental Project, or SEP, to restore fish habitat and repair ecological damage caused by years of violations of the Clean Water Act and the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. Friends will administer and implement the SEP which is an allowable enforcement alternative that directs funds into tangible environmental improvements in the affected area related to the violation.

The settlement is the result of a lawsuit filed in 2018 by after the Sierra Club discovered the Trump Tower cooling water intake violated state and federal law during a routine permit review. The $4.8 million total appears to be the largest Clean Water Act settlement in Illinois state court history.

Read the full news release from Friends and the Sierra Club here.