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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

October 04, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees To Decide Nuclear Waste Storage Licensing Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted two petitions for certiorari and consolidated the cases to decide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s power to license private companies to store nuclear waste and what constitutes an “aggrieved party” under the Hobbs Act.
October 04, 2024
Judge: Wetlands Are Not Waters Of The United States Under The CAA, Case Fails

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida has issued a report recommending that summary judgment be granted to a farm and its owner sued by the U.S. government for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), finding that the “undisputed facts establish” that the wetlands on the defendants’ property are not under the jurisdiction of the CWA because they do not constitute “waters of the United States” (WOTUS).
October 02, 2024
Ohio Refinery To Pay $169M In Penalties, Upgrades For Clean Air Act Violations

TOLEDO, Ohio —The U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency have entered into a consent decree requiring an Ohio-based refining company to pay $19 million in penalties and implement about $150 million in plant upgrades over allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) with hazardous emissions of benzene, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and other air pollutants.
October 02, 2024
Governments, Fracking Operator Reach $15.5M Deal Resolving Toxic Emissions Lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it reached a settlement valued at $15.5 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at oil and gas production facilities of a fracking operator on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.
October 02, 2024
Judge Tosses EPA Suit Against EBay Over CAA Violations, Cites ‘Sell’ Definition

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that eBay Inc. is in violation of federal environmental laws by selling motor vehicle parts and accessories, pesticides and paint remover products that run afoul of pollution standards and are toxic, finding, in part, that actions by eBay do not comprise an offer to sell because eBay did not actually possess any of the items for sale.
October 02, 2024
States: Supreme Court Stay Of Methane Rule Needed To Avoid ‘Irreparable Harm’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of states has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their application for a stay of the 2024 Methane Rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that “absent a stay, EPA’s gambit to force the States to submit to EPA’s ‘presumptive standards’ will impose irreparable harm upon the States.”
October 01, 2024
Certification For Appeal Of Interim Attorney Fees Denied In Clean Water Act Case

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California in a docket entry denied a request by two cities for reconsideration of interim attorney fees and for certification of the fee order as final but stayed until October enforcement of the order that granted fees to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewer systems.
September 25, 2024
Norfolk Southern: Investors Attempt To ‘Concoct’ Securities Case From Train Crash

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principals filed a reply brief in Georgia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a securities fraud class action filed against them related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on grounds that the plaintiffs “attempt to concoct securities fraud claims” out of the crash and the stock price declines that followed it.
September 24, 2024
California, Environmental Groups Sue Exxon For Single-Use Plastics Pollution

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Attorney General’s Office and environmental groups on Sept. 23 separately filed complaints against Exxon Mobil Corp., accusing it of creating a public nuisance and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) other laws by manufacturing single-use plastics that it misrepresented as recyclable while earning billions dollars from sales of plastic products per year.
September 23, 2024
River Protection Group Sues For CWA Violations At Wastewater Treatment Plants

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A nonprofit corporation that works to protect the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries and watershed, including Walter F. George Lake, has filed a civil action against a city in Alabama, alleging that the city’s wastewater treatment plant continually violates the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging of various pollutants into the river.
September 23, 2024
EPA, Minnesota Company Reach Settlement Over Clean Air Act Violations

CHICAGO — Federal Cartridge Co., a Minnesota company that melts and processes lead to manufacture ammunition, has agreed to pay $349,471 in penalties and reduce air emissions by more than 1,700 pounds of particulate matter per year and more than 400 pounds of lead per year in a settlement reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
September 20, 2024
9th Circuit: Permit Issued After Faulty Fireworks Show Extinguishes CWA Case

PASADENA, Calif. — A restaurant accused of allowing a “low break” firework to fall into the Alamitos Bay during a Fourth of July celebration received a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for future events, which a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found mooted an appeal filed by a environmental group alleging violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
September 18, 2024
California Federal Judge Rejects Motion For New Trial In Clean Water Act Dispute

SANTA ANA , Calif. — A California federal judge held that while a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision “changed the prevailing law regarding what constitutes ” a water of the United States (WOTUS), the ruling does not warrant a new trial for a recycling company that was found to have violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) 12,541 times.
September 18, 2024
EPA Tells U.S. Supreme Court Petitioner’s CWA Permit Argument Is Without Merit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a response brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a dispute over narrative prohibitions in San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit, contending that San Francisco’s categorical argument that the Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes only limitations that fall within the statutory definition of “effluent limitation” are without merit.
September 18, 2024
Court: Commitment To Monitor Nitrogen Pollution Not ‘Rule’ Under Washington Law

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A commitment from the Washington Department of Ecology in a denial letter to an environmental group to monitor sources of human-introduced nitrogen in Puget Sound is not a “rule” under the Washington Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an en banc Washington Supreme Court found, reversing an appellate court.
September 16, 2024
Group Appeals Dismissal Of CWA Violation Suit Against Buddhist Compound

NEW YORK — An environmental group on Sept. 13 notified a New York federal court that it is appealing to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the dismissal of its case accusing Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc. of polluting the water around its 393-acre compound.
September 12, 2024
EPA, California: High Court Intervention Not Needed In Emissions Standards Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a group of states led by California urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject petitions for a writ of certiorari to decide whether the EPA has the authority to waive new Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for automobile emissions as they apply to California.
September 05, 2024
Idaho Federal Judge: U.S. Failed To Allege Polluted Wetlands Are Protected By CWA

BOISE, Idaho — The United States failed to properly assert that the operator of a ranch in Idaho violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) because it did not raise factual allegations stating that the wetlands allegedly polluted by the company are connected to waters protected by the law, an Idaho federal judge found in granting the operator’s motion to dismiss without prejudice.
September 03, 2024
Discovery Issues Derail Summary Judgment Bid In Cleanup Costs Coverage Row

PADUCAH, Ky. — After a report of discovery issues prompted denial of a summary judgment motion without prejudice in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs, a Kentucky federal magistrate judge has set new discovery deadlines and given the plaintiff leave to move to compel production.
August 30, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Man’s Clean Water Act Conviction For Dumping Caustic Water

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal jury properly convicted a man of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) because there was sufficient evidence to show that he operated a company that discharged caustic wastewater into a public sewer and the United States did not suppress evidence or improperly vouch for a witness, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the jury’s verdict.
August 28, 2024
9th Circuit Says CERCLA Does Not Limit FTCA’s Misrepresentation Exception

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States is entitled to sovereign immunity from claims brought by employees of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) who allegedly were harmed by radioactive contamination at a former U.S. Navy base that was leased to the SFPD because the claims were based on misrepresentations made by the Navy and are therefore exempt under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a trial court’s order and rejecting the employees’ assertion that the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) limited the exemption at issue.
August 27, 2024
Investors: Norfolk Southern Broke Securities Laws Related To Ohio Train Derailment

ATLANTA — Investors have filed a brief in Georgia federal court opposing a motion to dismiss their securities fraud class action against Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principals, arguing that they have laid out in “exacting detail” that the defendants misled investors about the purported safety of the railroad’s operations while the company implemented cost-cutting procedures that “systematically dismantled critical safety measures in pursuit of profits, culminating in the derailment” of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, which resulted in toxic chemical pollution in that town.
August 27, 2024
Permit Claims Against Power Plant Operator Survive In Illinois Federal Court

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal magistrate judge declined to dismiss claims asserting that the operator of a coal-fired power plant failed to obtain a mandatory permit for its operations because the operator failed to show that it complied with Illinois’ permitting program simply by applying for the applicable permits that state agencies failed to act upon.
August 26, 2024
Federal Judge Enjoins EPA For Imposing Environmental Disparate Impact Requirements

LAKE CHARLES, La. — In a final judgment, a Louisiana federal judge permanently enjoined the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice from imposing disparate impact and cumulative requirements against Louisiana and its state environmental agency.
August 22, 2024
EPA Urges High Court Not To Stay Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to an emergency application for an immediate stay filed by 25 states, the EPA argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should not stay a rule that would impose new emissions standards on coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA) because the states failed to show they are likely to succeed on the merits in the pending judicial review case regarding the rule.