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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

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.
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.