Latest Pollution Headlines

All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.

California Governor Planning to Ban Sale of New Gas Vehicles in 15 Years

Sep 25 2020 // California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in 15 years, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, establishing a timeline in the nation’s most populous state that could force U.S....

Alabama City Officials Drop Chemical Contamination Lawsuit

Sep 25 2020 // Officials in the northwest Alabama city of Guin have dropped a lawsuit against chemical giant 3M that alleged chemicals from its manufacturing plant had entered a creek that supplies drinking water to the community. The...

New York, California Could be Fastest Growing States for Renewables

Sep 24 2020 // U.S. environmental policies will drive long-term demand for renewable energy, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report. The report depicts a “a credit positive for renewable energy developers” in...

South Carolina Wood Pellet Plant Accused of Violating Clean Air Act

Sep 24 2020 // Environmental groups threatened to sue a wood pellet factory on Tuesday, accusing it of releasing more than 100 tons of air pollution a year in violation of the Clean Air Act. A legal notice filed against Jasper Pellets...

Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Penalties for Listeria Contamination

Sep 23 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...

California Burnin’ – a Warning Against One-Party Rule: Opinion

Sep 22 2020 // “California, folks, is America fast forward.” Thus said Governor Gavin Newsom, hoarsely, amid brown smoke at the North Complex Fire on Sept. 11. “What we’re experiencing right here is coming to a...

Lawsuit Claims EPA Has Failed to Enforce Chesapeake Bay Pollution Caps

Sep 16 2020 // The Environmental Protection Agency has failed to ensure that Pennsylvania and New York are doing enough to reduce pollution that flows from farms and cities into the Chesapeake Bay, according to a lawsuit filed on...

Bad Air From Western Wildfires Just Won’t Ease up

Sep 15 2020 // Relief from putrid, dangerous air spewing from massive wildfires across the West won’t come until later in the week or beyond, scientists and forecasters say, and the hazy and gunk-filled skies might stick around for...

Daimler to Pay $2.2 Billion for Clean Air Violations Over Diesel Emissions

Sep 15 2020 // Daimler AG will pay $2.2 billion to resolve a U.S. government diesel emissions cheating investigation and claims from 250,000 U.S. vehicle owners, court documents show. The German automaker and its Mercedes-Benz USA LLC...

Oregon Employers Urged to Protect Workers by Avoiding Outdoor Work

Sep 14 2020 // Oregon workplace and public health officials are urging employers to stop or delay outdoor work activity where they can and take other reasonable steps to protect workers when air quality reaches the...

ESG Industry Booms but Investors Worry Risks Are Piling Up

Sep 10 2020 // LONDON— If fund managers are serious about clean investments, they need to get their hands dirty. That’s the view of Sasja Beslik, head of sustainable finance at Swiss bank J. Safra Sarasin, as demand surges for...

Michigan Healthcare System to Pay $104.7K to Settle Wage Discrimination Lawsuit

Sep 9 2020 // A non-profit health care system based in Saginaw, Mich., will pay $104,707 and provide other relief to settle a federal gender wage discrimination lawsuit. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in...

South Carolina Sues Entities Behind ‘Mount Trashmore’ for $5M in Clean Up Costs

Sep 8 2020 // South Carolina sued the owner of a site where a massive pile of trash burned and smoldered for months, demanding $5 million to pay back what the state spent to put out the fire and clean up the site. Able Contracting Inc....

Well Off Texas Coast Spewing Natural Gas Plume

Sep 3 2020 // Efforts to stem a plume spewing on Sept. 1 from an offshore natural gas well platform in Texas have been hampered by rough waters, but officials say the environmental impact has been minimal. The U.S. Coast Guard said that...

Utility to Pay $1.5M to Settle Pollution Issues at Southwestern Indiana Plant

Sep 2 2020 // Indianapolis Power & Light Co. has agreed to pay more than $1.5 million in penalties to resolve pollution issues at its Petersburg Generating Station in southwestern Indiana. IPL will pay a civil penalty of $1.525...

Key Air Monitors Offline After Laura Hits Louisiana Energy Hub

Sep 1 2020 // Hazardous emissions from a chlorine plant fire, abruptly shuttered oil and gas refineries and still-to-be assessed plant damage are seeping into the air after Hurricane Laura, regulators say, but some key state and federal...

Why Damage from Hurricanes Keeps Rising

Aug 28 2020 // A destructive storm rising from warm waters. Again. America and the world are getting more frequent and bigger multibillion dollar tropical catastrophes like Hurricane Laura, which menaced the U.S. Gulf Coast, because of a...

Damage from Whopper Hurricanes Increasing for Many Reasons

Aug 27 2020 // America and the world are getting more frequent and bigger multibillion dollar tropical catastrophes like Hurricane Laura because of a combination of increased coastal development, natural climate cycles, reductions in air...

National E&S Launches COVID-19 Cleaning GL, CPL Coverage

Aug 25 2020 // National E&S Insurance Brokers has launched COVID-19 cleaning coverage with an “A” rated carrier specifically designed for non-fire/water restoration contractors who wish to perform COVID-19 cleaning and...

EPA to OK Use by American Airlines of Surface Coating to Fight COVID-19

Aug 24 2020 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is set to announce it will issue an emergency exemption to the state of Texas permitting it to allow American Airlines Group Inc. to use a new surface coating that kills...