Mealey's Pollution Liability : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Pollution Liability

June 27, 2024
4th Circuit: Arranger Liability Under CERCLA Has No Knowledge Requirement

RICHMOND, Va. — In a matter of first impression for a federal appellate court, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a party that arranges for the disposal of hazardous waste can be held liable as an “arranger” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) even if the party did not know that the waste contained hazardous substances.
June 27, 2024
Split Supreme Court Stays EPA Emissions Plan Pending Judicial Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 granted four applications to stay a plan issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act (CAA) that would establish an implementation plan for attaining ozone air quality standards for 23 states whose own plans were previously disapproved by the agency pending judicial review in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
June 26, 2024
Army Corps Of Engineers Did Not Err In Granting Permit For Warehouse Construction

SEATTLE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not err in granting a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit for the construction of a warehouse that require the filling of some nearby wetlands because the Corps properly performed the necessary cumulative and alternative analyses, a Washington federal judge found in granting summary judgment in favor of the Corps and the owner of the warehouse.
June 26, 2024
In Joint Stipulation, Parties Sink Oil Contamination Claims Arising From Shipwreck

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Oil pollution claims arising from the wreck of the M/V Golden Ray, a cargo ship carrying thousands of motor vehicles and hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel, have been resolved, according to a joint stipulation of dismissal filed in Georgia federal court by a group of nearby residents allegedly affected by the oil, the operators of the vessel and a company tasked with cleaning up the wreckage.
June 25, 2024
New York Panel Affirms, Says Gas Station Owners Are Liable For 2 Spills

ALBANY, N.Y. — A trial court did not err in finding that the owners of a gas station are liable for cleanup costs incurred by a New York state agency that investigated and cleaned two spills from the gas station because the owners failed to present a triable issue of fact regarding liability, a New York panel found in affirming the trial court’s partial summary judgment order.
June 25, 2024
Hawaii Youth Secure Climate Change Commitment From State Agency And Officials

HONOLULU — In a joint stipulation resolving climate change claims brought in Hawaii state court, a group of Hawaii youth on June 24 informed the court that they have reached a settlement with the Hawaii Department of Transportation and state officials that will see the agency develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the state.
June 24, 2024
Class Of California Children File Amended Climate Change Claims Against EPA

LOS ANGELES — Following the dismissal of their complaint for lack of redressability, a group of California minors filed an amended complaint in which they assert that they have been damaged by the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to prevent climate change and its discriminatory policies against children.
June 20, 2024
Landowner’s Flawed Reading Of Sackett Dooms Preliminary Injunction In CWA Row

RALEIGH, N.C. — A property owner is not entitled to a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing a new amended rule that extends the protection of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to certain wetlands because the owner failed to show that the rule was at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of protected wetlands in Sackett v. EPA, a North Carolina federal judge found in denying the owner’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
June 18, 2024
Missouri Federal Judge Says Retiring Power Plant Would Not Offset Past Emissions

ST. LOUIS — In response to simultaneous mitigation proposals submitted by the United States and an energy company that was found to have violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), a Missouri federal judge rejected the company’s idea that retiring its power plant early would offset its previous unlawful sulfur dioxide emissions.
June 18, 2024
Business Groups Seek Review Of Rule Listing 2 PFAS As Hazardous Substances

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two trade associations filed a petition for review of a final rule, promulgated by the Environmental Protection 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.
June 14, 2024
Wet-Weather Creek On Texas Ranch Is Not Protected By The Clean Water Act

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge entered final judgment in favor of a construction company that allegedly violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by allowing stormwater discharges to flow onto a nearby ranch because the ranch owner failed to show that the wet-weather creek on the property is protected by the CWA.
June 14, 2024
California Federal Judge Denies Motion To Transfer Defeat Devices RICO Case

SAN FRANCISCO — After examining the factors for transferring cases, a California federal judge declined to transfer claims brought against a car manufacturer and engine manufacturer that are alleged to have violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and California state law by installing defeat devices on a line of trucks to avoid state and federal emissions standards.
June 14, 2024
Hawaii Federal Judge Stays Fuel Release Claims Pending EPA Administrative Process

HONOLULU — Fuel contamination claims brought under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by an environmental group against the U.S. Navy for releases from an underground fuel storage facility should be stayed to the extent that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently working to resolve the contamination issues, a Hawaii federal judge found in partly granting the Navy’s motion to dismiss.
June 13, 2024
9th Circuit: NPDES Permits Applied To Entire Washington Port Facility

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the terms of two National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by Washington state applied to the entirety of a cargo terminal where stormwater discharges entered into Puget Sound.
June 12, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Enters $8 Million Settlement To Resolve CERCLA Claims

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge granted two oil companies’ joint motion for entry of an $8 million settlement agreement that resolves claims brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act by the current owner of an oil refinery where environmental contamination was discovered.
June 11, 2024
New Mexico Federal Judge Dismisses Final Member Case In Gold King Mine MDL

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In an order dismissing the Navajo Nation’s claims against a government contractor for its alleged involvement in the release of hazardous substances from the Gold King Mine that contaminated large portions of tribal land, a New Mexico federal judge announced that all cases in the multidistrict litigation covering the incident have been terminated or transferred.
June 11, 2024
Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General To File Brief In Climate Change Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 10 invited Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on the issue of whether the Hawaii Supreme Court erred by finding that claims arising from a group of oil companies’ alleged efforts to conceal the effects their fossil fuel products would have on global climate change were not preempted by federal law.
June 11, 2024
Environmental Contamination Coverage Suit Transferred From Alabama To Georgia

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An environmental contamination coverage suit filed by a number of insurers against their insured must be transferred to Georgia federal court because almost all of the events giving rise to the contamination at issue occurred in Georgia and the plaintiff insurers will not be inconvenienced by the transfer, an Alabama federal judge said in granting the insured’s motion to transfer to the suit to Georgia federal court.
June 10, 2024
Supreme Court Won’t Hear CERCLA Case Regarding World War II Era Pollution

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 10 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a group of oil and gas companies in which they asked the high court to consider whether the United States is liable for cleanup costs arising from petroleum production at refineries during World War II that was allegedly overseen by the government.
June 10, 2024
Alaska Must Update Water Standards To Comply With Clean Water Act, EPA Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Due to new data that more accurately reflects the amount of fish Alaska residents consume, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed the state that it must revise its water quality standards to ensure that residents are not exposed to dangerous amounts of toxic pollutants, including methylmercury.
June 10, 2024
Indiana Federal Court Lacks Personal Jurisdiction Over Insurers In CERCLA Case

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Due to a lack of personal jurisdiction, an Indiana federal judge denied a motion to bar contribution claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act against a group of insurance companies that allegedly sold policies to a company that polluted an industrial site with hazardous substances because there is no case or controversy involving the insurers.
June 10, 2024
Choice-Of-Law Ruling In Environmental Coverage Dispute Certified For Appeal

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion to certify a choice-of-law ruling for interlocutory appeal to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after determining that resolution of the issue could help to advance litigation of the environmental contamination coverage suit.
June 07, 2024
Residents Affected By Air Pollution From Mill Seek Approval Of $18M Settlement

ROCK HILL, S.C. — After three years of litigation in South Carolina federal court, a group of residents whose homes and health have allegedly been damaged by air pollution from a nearby paper mill seek preliminary approval of a class settlement agreement that would see the operator of the mill pay $18 million to settle the residents’ negligence and nuisance claims.
June 05, 2024
Oil Companies Ask Supreme Court To Decide Preemption Issue In Climate Change Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief filed before the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of oil and gas companies argue that the Hawaii Supreme Court erred by refusing to find that claims arising from the companies’ alleged efforts to conceal the effects their fossil fuel products would have on global climate change were not preempted by federal law.
June 04, 2024
States And Energy Groups Argue New CWA Rule Is Impermissibly Expansive

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A new Clean Water Act (CWA) rule promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency that alters state water quality certification procedures must be stricken down because it conflicts with previous versions of the rule and allows states to regulate activities beyond the original scope of the CWA, a group of 11 states and three energy industry groups argue in a motion for summary judgment filed in Louisiana federal court.