Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • February 10, 2023

    Oil Companies Ask High Court To Decide Jurisdiction Issue Over WWII Gas Production

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of oil companies that operated in Louisiana during World War II have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether they were simply complying with federal regulations or were “acting under” federal officers to a degree that satisfies federal officer jurisdiction to remove state environmental law claims raised by several Louisiana parishes to federal court.

  • February 10, 2023

    Minn. Panel: Agency’s Adoption Of California Emission Standards Is Constitutional

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota agency’s adoption of California standards for motor vehicles emissions is constitutional because the adoption did not violate the nondelegation doctrine of the Minnesota Constitution and would not automatically incorporate future major changes to the standards made by California, a Minnesota appellate panel found in considering an automobile dealers association’s challenge to the state’s new Clean Car Rule.

  • February 08, 2023

    Landfill Operator Prevails On CWA, CERCLA Cost Recovery Claims

    COLUMBIA, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee denied a defendant landfill owner summary judgment on state law claims of trespass and punitive damages in connection with the operation of the landfill and its acceptance of aluminum byproducts, but said the owner is entitled to prevail on allegations that it violated federal environmental law.

  • February 08, 2023

    Dispute Over Arizona ‘Sham’ E-Waste Recycler Yields New Settlement

    PHOENIX — A federal judge in Arizona has granted final approval of another settlement agreement in a dispute over a purported recycling facility that stockpiled and ultimately abandoned 106 million pounds of e-waste.

  • February 08, 2023

    D.C. Circuit Panel Refuses To Stay Remand Of Climate Change Claims

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel denied fossil fuel companies’ emergency motion for a stay pending the appeal of a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia order remanding the District of Columbia’s climate change claims against the companies that were originally filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court.

  • February 08, 2023

    Idaho Federal Judge Delivers Split Ruling On Challenges To Proposed Phosphate Mine

    POCATELLO, Idaho — A federal judge in Idaho partially granted and partially denied motions for summary judgment filed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), three environmental groups and a mining company over the environmental groups’ allegations that a proposed phosphate mine would violate Idaho state law, the Clean Water Act (CWA) and other federal laws.

  • February 01, 2023

    No Coverage Owed For Coronavirus Losses Under Pollution Liability Policy

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal on Jan. 31 affirmed a district court’s ruling that no coverage is owed to insureds for business interruption losses sustained as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, agreeing with the lower court’s determination that the virus does not qualify as a pollution condition under the premises pollution liability policy.

  • January 30, 2023

    8th Circuit Denies States’ Bid For Rehearing Of Standing Findings

    ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 27 stood by its October determination that 13 states lack standing to challenge President Joseph Biden’s reestablishment of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (SC-GHG).

  • January 30, 2023

    Paper Companies:  CERCLA Statute Of Limitations Holding Not Cert-Worthy

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Jan. 27 opposition briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, two paper companies defend a determination by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a statute of limitations affirmative defense is available to them in a lawsuit over polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) pollution at the Kalamazoo River Superfund site.

  • January 30, 2023

    Pollution Exclusion Is Ambiguous As To Whether Home Heating Oil Is A Pollutant

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Rhode Island Supreme Court on Jan. 27 vacated and remanded a trial court’s ruling entered in favor of an insurer in an insured’s suit seeking coverage for an underlying suit arising out of a home heating oil spill because the policy’s pollution exclusion is ambiguous as to whether home heating oil qualifies as a pollutant.

  • January 30, 2023

    Delaware High Court: Property Owners Forfeited Environmental Liability Challenge

    WILMINGTON, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court on Jan. 27 said a decision by property owners to withdraw their administrative appeal of a determination of environmental liability means that they “effectively forfeited the right to” later challenge that liability in connection with a $105,464.87 award in favor of the state.

  • January 26, 2023

    Fla. Federal Judge: Clean Water Permit Approval Was Not Arbitrary Or Capricious

    TAMPA, Fla. — An environmental group failed to show that the Army Corps of Engineers acted arbitrarily or capriciously when it approved a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit for a road project that would run through a wilderness preserve in Pasco County, a Florida federal judge held in overruling the group’s objections to a federal magistrate judge’s recommendation that the Corps’ and Pasco County’s cross-motions for summary judgment be granted.

  • January 26, 2023

    W.Va. Federal Judge: No Good Cause To Amend CERCLA Complaint At This Late Stage

    HUNGTINGTON, W.Va. — A property owner and a company that brought Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act allegations against a West Virginia state official and the former operators of a coal mine located on the property failed to show good cause to amend their complaint because their proposed changes would require additional discovery that prejudice the defendants at this stage of the case, a West Virginia federal judge found in denying the plaintiffs’ motion for leave to file a second amended complaint.

  • January 23, 2023

    Amici To D.C. Circuit: California Emissions Plan ‘Essential’ To Health

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — One week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a brief with the District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defending its decision to reinstate a waiver for California to certain Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements, amicus curiae briefs were filed in support on Jan. 20, with the American Thoracic Society arguing that “California’s capacity to promulgate and implement” automobile emissions regulations “is essential” to protecting public health “particularly in a warming world.”

  • January 20, 2023

    In Longstanding Pollution Case Against Poultry Companies, Oklahoma Prevails

    TULSA, Okla. — In a 219-page opinion detailing findings of fact and conclusions of law from a 52-day bench trial that took place in 2009, a federal judge in Oklahoma has sided with Oklahoma on allegations that Tyson Foods Inc. and other Arkansas-based poultry plants polluted the Illinois River.

  • January 19, 2023

    Texas Files Suit Opposing New Clean Water Rule On Same Day Rule Is Published

    GALVESTON, Texas — On the day the federal government published its revised definition of waters of the United States, Texas on Jan. 18 filed a complaint saying the new rule expands regulation authorized by the Clean Water Act, erodes states’ authority over their own water, interferes with state programs and undermines state sovereignty under the U.S. Constitution.

  • January 18, 2023

    New Jersey Panel Affirms Agency Decision To Oversee Polluted Delaware River Site

    JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) decision to directly oversee a manufacturing site did not violate the due process rights of the owner and operator of the site simply because the owner presented good-cause defenses to the DEP’s previous determination that it was responsible for polluting the Delaware River and nearby area, a New Jersey panel determined in affirming the agency’s decision.

  • January 18, 2023

    Wash. Federal Judge Permits Alaska To Intervene In Clean Air Act Suit Against EPA

    SEATTLE — Alaska maintains an interest that will not be protected if it is excluded from a case brought by three citizen groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to compel the agency to approve or disapprove a state implementation plan (SIP) to remediate air pollution in the borough of Fairbanks North Star because the EPA will not raise the same arguments offered by the state, a Washington federal judge found in granting the state’s motion to intervene in the action.

  • January 18, 2023

    Montana Seeks Comments On $18.5M Asbestos Settlement With W.R. Grace

    WILMINGTON, Del. — W.R. Grace & Co. has moved a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge to approve settlement of a claim by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for natural resource damages stemming from “Operable Unit 3” (OU3) at the Libby Asbestos Superfund site.

  • January 13, 2023

    Expert In Oil Spill Case Is Qualified, Federal Judge Says In Win For Government

    MOBILE, Ala. — A towing vessel owner who claims that the government is responsible for an oil spill from a barge lost its bid to exclude an expert witness, with an Alabama federal judge finding that the concerns raised “with regard to the proffered expert testimony goes to the weight of the testimony, not to its admissibility.”

  • January 13, 2023

    Federal Judge Denies Cross-Motions In New York River Pollution Dispute

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A citizen environmental group’s letter sent to a recycling company requesting a copy of a stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) cannot satisfy the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) 60-day notice requirement for failing to send the plan, a New York federal judge held in denying the company’s motion to dismiss and/or motion for judgment on the pleadings and the citizen group’s cross-motion for partial summary judgment and motion to strike an affirmation filed in support of the motion to dismiss.

  • January 10, 2023

    Briefly: 5th Circuit Says Clean Water Permit For Pipeline Was Issued Properly

    NEW ORLEANS — A panel of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for review sought by a group of shrimpers and fishermen related to a clean air permit dispute for a natural gas pipeline, ruling that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not act arbitrarily in its conclusions regarding the impact of pipeline construction on the environment and the need for compensatory mitigation.

  • January 10, 2023

    La. Federal Judge: Oil Companies Were Not Under Direct Federal Control During WWII

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — Oil companies operating in Louisiana during World War II were not under direct federal control but were simply complying with federal regulations, a Louisiana federal judge held in remanding state law environmental claims raised by a parish that was allegedly affected by the companies’ operations.

  • January 09, 2023

    In New York, Buddhist Compound Beats Clean Water Act Citizen Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has dismissed “broad” allegations that Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc. discharged wastewater and storm water containing unsafe levels of fecal coliform at a 393-acre Buddhist compound.

  • January 09, 2023

    Summary Judgment Properly Granted On Extracontractual Claims In Pollution Dispute

    DALLAS — A trial court did not err in granting a pollution liability insurer’s motion for summary judgment on an insured’s extracontractual claims because the insured failed to show that an issue of fact exists as to any lost benefits arising out of a gas leak or that it sustained an independent injury as a result of the insurer’s alleged bad faith conduct, the Fifth District Texas Court of Appeals said.

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