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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

August 21, 2024
Tennessee City Will Repair Sewer System To Resolve Alleged CWA Violations

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee federal judge entered a consent decree that requires a Tennessee city to perform several construction projects on its allegedly faulty sewer system in exchange for resolution of Clean Water Act (CWA) claims brought against it by an environmental group.
August 21, 2024
D.C. Circuit: EPA’s Decision And Method Regarding Chemical Emissions Were Proper

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency did not act arbitrarily or capriciously by enacting a final rule that tightened emissions from organic chemical manufacturing sites because the agency properly explained the statistical model it relied upon when reaching its decision and why it rejected other models, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in denying three petitions for judicial review.
August 20, 2024
Contamination, Exposure Coverage Suit Transferred From New York To Maryland

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Aug. 19 transferred an insurer’s suit seeking a coverage declaration for a number of toxic exposure and environmental contamination lawsuits filed against its insured to Maryland federal court, where the insured filed an identical lawsuit against the insurer, because the insured met its burden of showing that Maryland is the more convenient venue for the parties and witnesses.
August 20, 2024
Residents Allegedly Harmed By Creosote Get Preliminary Approval Of $3.5M Settlement

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A Louisiana federal judge granted preliminary approval of a proposed class settlement that would see two petroleum companies place $3.5 million in a litigation fund to resolve claims alleging that they contributed to creosote contamination at a property that spread to the groundwater of neighboring areas.
August 19, 2024
New York Federal Judge Enters $4M Default Judgment In Park Contamination Dispute

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — In adopting a report and recommendation, a New York federal judge entered default judgment in favor of New York and its environmental agency for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act claims brought against 13 defendants who failed to respond to allegations that they dumped hazardous waste at a public park in Suffolk County, N.Y.
August 15, 2024
Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage, Exception Does Not Apply

SAN FRANCISCO — An insurer reiterates in an appellant reply brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a district court erred in finding that a pollution exclusion does not bar coverage for an underlying environmental contamination lawsuit because the underlying lawsuit fails to allege that there was any sudden and accidental pollution.
August 14, 2024
Maryland Judge Dismisses Climate Change Claims Under Theory Of Preemption

BALTIMORE — Climate change claims brought by the mayor and City Council of Baltimore against a group of oil companies arising from the companies’ alleged mischaracterization of the harms of fossil fuel products cannot be brought under state law because the claims are preempted by federal common law and the Clean Air Act (CAA), a Maryland judge found in granting the oil companies’ motion to dismiss.
August 14, 2024
In Airport Pollution Dispute, Calif. Federal Judge Denies Summary Judgment Motion

LOS ANGELES — The operator of an automotive business is not entitled to summary judgment for claims and cross-claims arising from alleged contamination at an airport because there is a genuine factual issue of whether the operator released hazardous substances near the site, a California federal judge found in denying the operator’s motion for summary judgment.
August 12, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Suit Seeking Damages For Wastewater Discharges, Judge Says

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge denied an insured’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and granted a pollution liability insurer’s motion to dismiss after determining that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling in a nearly identical case forecloses the insured’s suit that seeks coverage for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the insured illegally discharged wastewater into a city sewage treatment facility.
August 09, 2024
Binding NPDES Manure Terms Are Not Rules, Majority Of Michigan Supreme Court Finds

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Court of Claims correctly found that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear a declaratory judgment action regarding new binding conditions in a general National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit governing certain manure practices because the state agency that issued the permit was not granted rulemaking authority by the Michigan Legislature, a majority of the Michigan Supreme Court found in affirming a state appellate court’s judgment in part.
August 07, 2024
California Officials Are Entitled To Immunity From RCRA Claims, Federal Judge Says

SACRAMENTO — Two California state officials are entitled to sovereign immunity from Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims because the plaintiff failed to raise any specific facts showing that the officials had control over hazardous substances that allegedly caused contamination of groundwater near several state facilities, a California federal judge found in granting the officials’ motion to dismiss without prejudice.
August 06, 2024
Island Refinery Operators Must Give Water To Residents Affected By Oil Pollution

PHILADELPHIA — A federal trial court did not err in ordering the operators of an oil refinery that allegedly contaminated homes and cisterns on St. Croix to provide affected residents with bottled water because the residents satisfied all elements necessary to receive a preliminary injunction, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found Aug. 5 in affirming the trial court’s decision to grant injunctive relief.
August 05, 2024
R.I. Supreme Court: Alleged Stormwater Contamination Issues Were Already Litigated

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A property owner is precluded from pursuing claims against an engineering firm that was allegedly negligent in constructing a stormwater remediation system because the issues raised in the complaint were already decided in federal and state court, the Rhode Island Supreme Court found in affirming a state trial court’s judgment.
August 02, 2024
6th Circuit: Property Owners Cannot Recover Damages From Contaminated Soil Dumping

CINCINNATI — A property-owning couple is not entitled to damages after a construction company dumped contaminated soil onto their property because the expert testimony and record evidence show that the couple’s property value increased after the company remediated the damage, the majority of a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming a federal trial court’s judgment.
July 31, 2024
Mo. Federal Judge Refuses To Dismiss CAA Criminal Charges In Light Of Loper Bright

ST. LOUIS — The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo does not warrant dismissal of Clean Air Act (CAA) criminal charges brought against a man who allegedly tampered with emissions control systems through his truck repair business because there is no precedent suggesting that courts have relied upon the Environmental Protection Agency’s interpretation of “monitoring devices” under the CAA, a Missouri federal judge found in denying the man and the business’ motion to dismiss.
July 29, 2024
In Contamination Case, California Federal Judge Grants $2.5M In Fees, Costs

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Several months after two environmental groups settled Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) brought against a construction company that allegedly contaminated the area around one of its storage and service facilities with hazardous substances, a California federal judge found that the environmental groups are entitled to more than $2.5 million in attorney fees and costs.
July 26, 2024
Seattle Announces It Has Reached $160M Settlement With Monsanto For PCB Releases

SEATTLE — Seattle announced in a July 25 press release that it has reached a $160 million settlement with chemical manufacturer Monsanto Co. for its alleged contamination of the city’s Lower Duwamish River with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
July 26, 2024
Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Arguments Over San Francisco’s NPDES Permit In October

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court announced in a July 26 docket entry that it will hear oral arguments on Oct. 16 on whether the Environmental Protection Agency failed to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA) by including two allegedly vague narrative prohibitions in San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit.
July 26, 2024
Insurers Owe Duty To Defend Insured Against Contaminated Well Water Suit

BUTTE, Mont. — Insurers have a duty to defend an insured for an underlying third-party complaint alleging that the insured’s negligence in installing a water well contributed to injuries sustained by tenants who consumed the well water because the insuring agreement for the primary policy’s limited pollution coverage endorsement is ambiguous and cannot be construed as a bar to coverage, a Montana federal magistrate judge said in denying the insurers’ motion for summary judgment.
July 26, 2024
D.C. Circuit: EPA Has Authority To Regulate Biogas Producers Under The CAA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In denying a petition for review of an Environmental Protection Agency final rule that governs biogas used within the Renewable Fuel Program of the Clean Air Act (CAA) brought by a trade association, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the EPA has authority to regulate producers of biogas under the statute.
July 25, 2024
Half The States Ask High Court To Stay Emissions Rule Pending Judicial Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an emergency application for an immediate stay of an EPA rule that would impose new emissions standards onto coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 25 states ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the rule pending judicial review in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 23, 2024
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Gasoline Leak, Panel Says In Reversing

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s ruling entered against an insurer in a coverage dispute over damages caused by a gasoline leak because the policy’s pollution exclusion applies as a bar to coverage based on the conclusion that gasoline is a pollutant when it leaks from an underground storage tank and damages a neighboring property.
July 23, 2024
Alabama Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Motion In Coal Residuals Plan Dispute

MOBILE, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge on July 22 denied a motion for reconsideration directed at a previous order holding that an environmental group does not have standing to challenge a power company’s coal combustion residuals (CCR) closure plan under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) because the group’s claims are not fairly traceable to the plan or redressable.
July 22, 2024
Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends $4M Default Judgment For Alleged Park Dumping

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — New York and its environmental agency are entitled to default judgment against 13 defendants who failed to respond to allegations that they dumped hazardous waste at a park in Suffolk County, N.Y., because the plaintiffs sufficiently stated their claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act as well as state law, a New York federal magistrate judge found in recommending that the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment be granted.
July 22, 2024
San Francisco Tells High Court Terms Of Its NPDES Permit Don’t Comply With CWA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a merits brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on July 19, San Francisco argues that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA) by including two narrative prohibitions in the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit because the prohibitions impose conditions on the quality of receiving waters.