Donald Trump’s hotel accused of river pollution
A Chicago hotel owned by President Donald Trump is accused of polluting the city’s waters.
Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan has issued a lawsuit to prevent the Trump International Hotel & Tower from pumping wastewater into the Chicago River.
Her office alleges several violations of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act relating to the hotel’s HVAC system.
The hotel takes almost 20 million gallons of water from the river each day to cool the system and then pumps a similar volume of used water back into the river, according to the lawsuit.
"The system results in the release of thermal process wastewater in the form of heated effluent into the Chicago River," it states.
The hotel’s HVAC permit expired last year and Illinois EPA had not approved a renewal as it was submitted nearly three months late.
However, it has continued to pump heated wastewater back into the river.
"Trump Tower continues to take millions of gallons of water from the Chicago River every day without a permit and without any regard to how it may be impacting the river’s ecosystem," Madigan said in a statement.
"I filed my lawsuit to make sure Trump Tower cannot continue violating the law."
The AG’s office also says the hotel has never taken necessary measures to ‘minimize harm to fish and to other aquatic organisms’.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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