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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • February 04, 2025

    Judge Grants Initial OK To $1M PFAS Deal Between Chemical Company And Class Members

    ROME, Ga. — A federal judge in Georgia has granted preliminary approval to a partial class action settlement that requires a chemical company that manufactures and supplies products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to a northwest Georgia textile mill to pay $1 million to a group of water subscribers and ratepayers who have been detrimentally affected by the company’s contamination of their drinking water supply.

  • February 04, 2025

    Rehearing Sought In 9th Circuit Train Car Case For CAA, EPRCA Violations, Penalty

    SPOKANE, Wash.  — An anhydrous ammonia supplier that was penalized and reprimanded for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) for storing train cars carrying a regulated hazardous substance at its Othello, Wash., facility is asking a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel for rehearing and rehearing en banc regarding the $850,000 penalty and injunction.

  • February 04, 2025

    3rd Opposition To EPA’s Motion To Delay U.S. Supreme Court CAA Cases Filed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings, make years of litigation ineffectual and “severely prejudice petitioners.”

  • February 04, 2025

    States Support EPA In D.C. Circuit PFAS Hazardous Substances Designation Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C.  — A group of amici curiae states is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its effort to convince the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny petitions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations filed asking it to vacate a final rule promulgated by the agency that added two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

  • January 29, 2025

    Administration’s Attempt To Pause High Court CAA Case Briefings Meets Resistance

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to two of three motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings and make years of litigation ineffectual.

  • January 28, 2025

    Ohio Village, Norfolk Southern Settle Train Derailment Claims For $22 Million

    EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The village of East Palestine, Ohio, and Norfolk Southern Corp. on Jan. 27 jointly announced a $22 million settlement to resolve all claims brought by the village arising from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in 2023 that released toxic chemicals into the environment, according to a news release posted on the village’s website.  Litigation involving other parties in the train derailment remain active.

  • January 24, 2025

    Amici Curiae Rally Behind Texas In Supreme Court Nuclear Waste Licensing Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. senators and representatives from Texas are among a barrage of amici curiae that filed nine briefs in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases in support of the state and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their effort to convince the high court that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at facility in west Texas.

  • January 23, 2025

    Refineries Tell High Court EPA’s Arguments In CAA Venue Case ‘Fail’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several small refineries that were denied requests for exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the U.S. Supreme Court that a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s judgment denying transfer of the case to the District of Columbia Circuit should be affirmed because the agency’s final actions were locally, not nationally, applicable and because the agency’s arguments “fail.”

  • January 22, 2025

    EPA, Supreme Court Petitioners Argue Circuit Jurisdiction For CAA Challenges

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a respondent brief that arguments by Oklahoma and Utah and several companies and utilities that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is the right venue to decide challenges to the EPA’s decision to disapprove state implementation plans for new air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) “impose atextual requirements and fail to give effect to the provision Congress enacted.”

  • January 22, 2025

    Bid To Compel Production Of Reinsurance Info Denied In Cleanup Costs Dispute

    PADUCAH, Ky. — Saying in part that “neither claims manuals and guidelines nor reinsurance-related documents are relevant to Phase I of this litigation,” a Kentucky federal magistrate judge denied a motion to compel production in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.

  • January 21, 2025

    Texas Says It’s Not The Place For Nuclear Waste In High Court Licensing Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) argue in a brief filed in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at a west Texas facility, as the federal government already has clear directive for disposing of materials at Yucca Mountain and other “interim federal facilities—not a private facility in Texas.”

  • January 17, 2025

    Federal Judge Orders EPA Decision On Refinery Hardship Petition; Appeal Expected

    SHREVEPORT, La. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must decide on a small refinery’s petition for hardship relief from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard program by Jan. 22 after a Louisiana federal judge, in granting the refinery’s motion for summary judgment, called the agency’s arguments for an extension “unpersuasive” because it had more than 200 days to decide on the petition but “continuously failed to act.”

  • January 16, 2025

    Couple Seeks Judgment On Right To Recover CERCLA Costs For AFFF Contamination

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A married couple that runs a dairy farm has moved for leave to file a motion for partial summary judgment in the litigation over contamination from the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), contending that they are entitled to recover the costs associated with compliance requirements related to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

  • January 14, 2025

    High Court Requests U.S. Response In Washington Port Facility CWA Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 invited the solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on the issue of whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was correct in ruling that two Washington state-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits applied to the entirety of a terminal where stormwater discharges entered into Puget Sound on the grounds that private citizens cannot bring actions in federal court to enforce certain state permit conditions under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  • January 14, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Chloroprene Counterclaim, Says D.C. Circuit Has Jurisdiction

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana has granted the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss an amended counterclaim filed by a defendant chemical company in an injury lawsuit involving carcinogenic chloroprene emissions from neoprene manufacturing operations, ruling that the chemical company’s argument that the district court has jurisdiction to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action would “nullify Congress’ choice” to assign the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review Clean Air Act (CAA) actions, whether the EPA acted lawfully or not.

  • January 14, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Oil Companies’ Petitions In Hawaii Climate Change Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a pair of petitions for writ of certiorari filed by two groups of oil companies that asked the court to determine whether the Hawaii Supreme Court erred in finding that claims arising from the companies’ alleged efforts to conceal the potential effects of their fossil fuel products on global climate change are not preempted by federal law.

  • January 13, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies States’ Petition Asking Not To Remand Rule To EPA Under CAA

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by four states led by Ohio that asked the court to determine whether the Clean Air Act (CAA) allows for remand to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to supplement the administrative record with new details after a rule is promulgated in reference to establishment of implementation plans for attaining ozone air quality standards.

  • January 10, 2025

    U.S. Seeks Remediation Reimbursement, Lien Under CERCLA In Idaho Asbestos Case

    POCATELLO, Idaho — The United States is seeking recovery of remediation costs, a declaratory judgment and a federal lien under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act from and against the owners of a site in downtown Burley, Idaho, stemming from the release of hazardous substances following the demolition of two buildings that were damaged by fire.

  • January 09, 2025

    U.S., Third-Party Defendants Say They Are Not Liable For Cleanup Under CERCLA

    NEWARK, N.J. — The United States and several third-party defendants have asked a New Jersey federal judge to dismiss counterclaims and a complaint an environmental company filed alleging liability for response and damage costs and seeking declaratory judgment for remediation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) stemming from releases of hazardous substances at a chlorine production facility after the judge refused to reconsider his denial of a previous motion filed by the company asking for dismissal of initial liability claims.

  • January 08, 2025

    Transfer Of EPA Clean Air Act Venue Questions Briefed In U.S. Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — New York and several other states and municipalities filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has filed a merits brief asking the justices to vacate a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals order and remand with instructions to transfer a case regarding the agency’s decisions to deny several small refineries’ requests for exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard program to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • January 06, 2025

    Special Counsel In New Jersey PFAS Settlement Seek More Than $36.7M In Fees

    WOODBURY, N.J. — The special counsel to the New Jersey attorney general and the plaintiffs filed a motion in New Jersey state court seeking $36,705,834.80 in attorney fees for their work in reaching a $392,781,963.69 settlement to resolve the state’s lawsuit for cleanup and removal costs from contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

  • January 06, 2025

    Oil Companies Respond To Solicitor General In Supreme Court Climate Change Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two groups of oil companies argue in separate supplemental U.S. Supreme Court briefs that Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar fails to justify elements of the United States’ position and mischaracterizes federal common-law arguments in an amicus curiae brief filed in two related cases expressing views on whether the Hawaii Supreme Court erred in finding that claims arising from the companies’ alleged efforts to conceal effects their fossil fuel products would have on global climate change are not preempted by federal law.

  • January 03, 2025

    States Highlight Question’s Importance In Supreme Court CAA Petition Reply

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four states that filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the Clean Air Act (CAA) allows for remand to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to supplement the administrative record with new details after a rule is promulgated in reference to establishment of implementation plans for attaining ozone air quality standards say in a reply brief that review is necessary now to keep the issue “laser-focused on the rulemaking process” and offer “a more specific answer, grounded in statutory text.”

  • January 02, 2025

    9th Circuit Panel Dismisses Appeal Of Fee Denial Reconsideration In CWA Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — Citing lack of jurisdiction, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel has granted an environmental organization’s motion to dismiss an appeal the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Calif., filed of a federal court’s denial of reconsideration of interim attorney fees to the organization in a Clean Water Act (CWA) case.

  • December 20, 2024

    Splintered 5th Circuit Affirms $14.25M CAA Penalty Against Exxon

    NEW ORLEANS — A splintered en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals narrowly affirmed a $14.25 million penalty against ExxonMobil Corp. for air pollution violations at a Texas facility with only one judge expressly agreeing with the decision and others offering varying responses ranging from a concurrence seeking a higher penalty to dissents challenging standing and other factors.