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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • November 07, 2024

    Nonprofits’ Calif. Utility Pole RCRA Case Dismissed After Consent Decree Approved

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California dismissed a complaint two conservation nonprofits filed against a California electric and natural gas utility corporation alleging violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) over the handling, storage and disposal of treated wood utility poles at six of its waste storage sites following the approval of a consent decree that requires the company to implement remediation efforts and pay $362,500 in costs and fees.

  • November 07, 2024

    Company To Pay $1.5M Penalty, Address Violations At Idaho Fertilizer Plant

    BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho agribusiness company has agreed to take remedial action to bring one of its fertilizer and agricultural products manufacturing facilities into compliance with requirements for environmental safety standards and pay a $1.5 million civil penalty through a settlement agreement with the U.S. government over alleged violations of four federal environmental protection statutes.

  • November 07, 2024

    U.S. Files CWA Complaint Alleging Alaska Vessel Bilge Water Contamination

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The U.S. government is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief against an Alaska commercial fishing company founder and manager and three of his businesses for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging oily bilge water into coastal waters and failing to comply with pollution control regulations.

  • November 07, 2024

    Companies Bring New Evidence To Obtain Reimbursement Over Environmental Harm

    JOPLIN, Mo. — Two Missouri development companies are asking a federal magistrate judge to alter or amend a ruling that the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act statute of limitations foreclosed the company’s attempt to recoup costs associated with remediating a former fertilizer plant that generated phosphogypsum and caused pollution and environmental harm, alleging that there is new evidence related to construction of a leachate management system at the site.

  • November 04, 2024

    U.S. High Court Won’t Review Tribe’s NPDES New Source Permit Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari the San Carlos Apache Tribe filed asking for review of an Arizona Supreme Court decision that a copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

  • November 04, 2024

    Petitioners Urge D.C. Circuit To Vacate Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions Rule

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief filed with the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, 27 states and a laundry list of other petitioners argue that a rule that would impose new emissions standards on coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA) violates administrative law and oversteps authorities.

  • October 30, 2024

    Environmental Groups Urge 6th Circuit To Vacate CWA Permit For Tenn. Pipeline

    CINCINNATI — Two environmental groups are asking the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit that the Army Corps of Engineers granted for construction of a Tennessee natural gas pipeline, stating the agency’s attempts to assume the practicability of trenchless crossings, select the least environmentally damaging construction method and determine whether the project would contribute to water quality standards violations, among other tasks, were arbitrary, capricious and unlawful.

  • October 30, 2024

    States, Private Groups Challenge New EPA Vehicle Emissions Rule In D.C. Circuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — About two dozen states and a cluster of private groups filed a pair of petitions in consolidated litigation in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that challenge an Environmental Protection Agency rule that implements new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles, claiming that the rule is an overreach of the agency’s authority and is arbitrary and capricious in its execution.

  • October 29, 2024

    6th Circuit Grants Stay To Environmental Groups In Tennessee Pipeline Debate

    CINCINNATTI — Construction of a Tennessee natural gas pipeline is on pause after a split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted two environmental groups’ motions to stay under the Clean Water Act (CWA), stating that the groups demonstrated risks of considerable irreparable harm if the project advances.

  • October 25, 2024

    Fuel Maker To Justices: EPA Admitted Calif. Emissions Waiver Will Impact Fuel Use

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney representing an ethanol manufacturer that is a petitioner in one of two U.S. Supreme Court cases seeking a ruling on whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to waive new Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for automobile emissions in California filed a letter arguing that a recent EPA proposal contradicts the agency’s claim that the waiver will have no effect on liquid fuel consumptions.

  • October 23, 2024

    Terminal Operators Petition U.S. Supreme Court On Wash. Port Facility Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of marine cargo terminal operators are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 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).

  • October 22, 2024

    Fracking Operator To Pay $9.4M To Settle Emissions Case Brought By EPA, New Mexico

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $9.4 million settlement with a hydraulic fracturing operator to resolve violations of new federal standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) related to toxic emissions from crude oil and natural gas facilities and to settle claims brought under the state administrative code of New Mexico.

  • October 21, 2024

    California Cities Appeal Denial Of Interim Attorney Fees In Clean Water Act Case

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two California cities are asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s decision not to reconsider interim attorney fees granted to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewage systems.

  • October 21, 2024

    EPA’s Clean Air Act Venue Questions Will Be Considered By U.S. Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 21 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking the justices to consider whether a provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) grants the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals exclusive jurisdiction over petitions for judicial review of the EPA’s decisions to deny several small refineries’ requests for exemptions from the law’s Renewable Fuel Standard program.

  • October 21, 2024

    Clean Air Act Jurisdiction Petitions By States, Companies Granted By High Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions posed in two petitions for a writ of certiorari, one by Oklahoma and Utah and one by a power company and other companies and agencies, seeking a ruling on whether the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to disapprove state implementation plans for new air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the court's Oct. 21 order list.

  • October 18, 2024

    Smelting Facility Operator, U.S. Ink $5.25M Settlement For Clean Air Act Violations

    SEATTLE — The owner of a now-shuttered aluminum smelting facility will pay the United States more than $5.25 million for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the emission of hazardous and other air pollutants pursuant to an amended settlement agreement approved by a federal judge in Washington.

  • October 18, 2024

    Ariz., Others Waive Responses To High Court Petition Over NPDES Permit Decision

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arizona and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), along with Resolution Copper Mining LLC, waived their rights to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari in which the San Carlos Apache Tribe asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review an Arizona Supreme Court decision that a copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

  • October 18, 2024

    California Reaches $35M Settlement With Biotech Corporation Over PCB Pollution

    LOS ANGELES — The state of California, through the Los Angeles city attorney and city of Los Angeles, has reached a $35 million settlement with an agricultural biotechnology and agrochemical corporation over the company’s alleged decades-long pollution of state waterways and stormwater and wastewater systems with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

  • October 17, 2024

    U.S. Supreme Court: Stay Of Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions Rule Not Necessary

    WASHINGTON, D.C — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 16 denied an emergency application filed by 25 states for an immediate stay of a rule that would impose new emissions standards on coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA), finding that the implementation of the rule won’t likely occur until after a decision by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is rendered.

  • October 17, 2024

    High Court Hears Clean Water Act Arguments On Specific Limits, Generic Prohibitions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 16 heard oral arguments on a dispute over San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit in an appeal by the city asking the justices to decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) permits the Environmental Protection Agency or authorized states to impose general prohibitions rather than specific limits when it comes to water quality standards and permitted discharge.

  • October 11, 2024

    Government Moves To Enter $311M Consent Decree In Ohio Train Derailment Case

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The U.S. government on Oct. 10 asked a federal court in Ohio to enter a proposed consent decree under which Norfolk Southern Corp. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (collectively, Norfolk Southern) agree to pay $311,175,000 to settle claims related to the release of toxic chemicals from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.  The payment includes a $15 million civil penalty, as well as money to improve rail safety and pay for health monitoring in the community.

  • October 11, 2024

    Statute Of Limitations Bars Reimbursement To Company Over Environmental Harm

    JOPLIN, Mo. — A federal magistrate judge in Missouri considering allocation of damages after a bench trial ruled that the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act statute of limitations foreclosed a development company’s attempt to recoup costs associated with remediating a former fertilizer plant that generated phosphogypsum and caused pollution and environmental harm.

  • October 10, 2024

    9th Circuit Says EPA Did Not Err In Delaying Response To Nonprofits’ Petition

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “did not act arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law” in denying a group of environmental nonprofit organizations’ petition to revise regulations that govern concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and denied the group’s petition for judicial review.

  • October 10, 2024

    Amici: Appeals Court Should Reinstate Florida’s Oversight Of Permitting Program

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Florida Chamber of Commerce and affiliated groups have filed an amicus curiae brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should reverse a lower court’s ruling and reinstate Florida’s oversight of a Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting program.

  • October 09, 2024

    Utah Natural Gas, Oil Company To Pay Nearly $16M For Clean Air Act Violations

    SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah natural gas and oil production company has agreed to take corrective actions costing more than $10 million and pay $5.5 million in penalties to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Utah for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for unlawful emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from storage vessels and associated vapor control systems the company operates across the state, according to a consent decree filed in a federal court in Utah.