Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Supreme Court Rejects BP, Anadarko Appeal of Gulf Spill Fines
Jun 29 2015 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected bids by BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to avoid penalties under federal pollution law in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The high court left in place a June...
6 Decisions Coming from Supreme Court Over Next Few Days
Jun 25 2015 // The U.S. Supreme Court is saving the best for last. The nation’s top court will issue a series of major rulings over the next several days as it closes its nine-month term. In addition to landmark gay-marriage and...
U.S. Warns of Dire Consequences If No Global Action on Climate Change
Jun 23 2015 // Labor productivity would dwindle as workers wilt in the heat. Summers in Illinois would feel like a Louisiana swamp. Epic downpours and surging seas of the future would leave $5 trillion in losses. And worsening air...
Freedom Industries to Pay $2.5M in West Virginia Spill Cleanup
Jun 19 2015 // The company behind a massive chemical spill last year has reached a $2.5 million deal with West Virginia environmental regulators for cleaning up its contaminated site, according to new court filings. The Charleston...
7 Rules for Extending ‘Insured’ Status
Jun 16 2015 // True story: The agent convinced the owner of several apartment buildings to purchase a pollution liability policy – because of the age of the buildings and the presence of asbestos and lead. A tenant’s young child...
North Carolina High Court Rules Duke Energy Has ‘Years’ to Cleanup Coal Ash
Jun 16 2015 // North Carolina’s highest court ruled June 11 that Duke Energy has years to clean up leaking coal ash dumps as outlined by a new state law. The state Supreme Court overruled a lower court judge’s decision that...
$4M Fire-Prevention Grant Ignites Passions in Northern California
Jun 15 2015 // City officials accepted a $4 million federal grant to chop down trees in the ritzy Oakland hills, a decision that ignited debate over how best to prevent deadly wildfires in the affluent Northern California region. The...
North Carolina Regulators Order Duke to Stop Spreading Groundwater Pollution
Jun 12 2015 // North Carolina environmental regulators ordered Duke Energy this week to stop the spread of groundwater pollution from coal ash dumps outside Wilmington after tests showed contamination in nearby drinking water wells. The...
B Corp Status Gives California Agency Conscientious Bragging Rights
Jun 8 2015 // Already considering itself a socially and environmentally minded business, Burnham Benefits Insurance Services took the next logical step and went for an official designation that would help alert others to their...
$4M Fire-Prevention Grant Ignites Passions in Northern California
Jun 5 2015 // City officials accepted a $4 million federal grant to chop down trees in the ritzy Oakland hills, a decision that ignited debate over how best to prevent deadly wildfires in the affluent Northern California region. The...
EPA Finds Little Evidence Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water
Jun 5 2015 // Fracking for shale oil and gas has not led to widespread pollution of drinking water, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft report said on Thursday, although it warned some drilling activities could potentially...
Stand-Alone Pollution Insurance Undersold in the Oil Patch
Jun 3 2015 // While stand-alone pollution insurance coverage for energy risks is available in the marketplace, more often than not those who need it the most may be unaware it is available or decide not to purchase it. That creates a...
Prosecutors Say No to Moving West Virginia Chemical Spill Criminal Case
Jun 1 2015 // Prosecutors oppose a motion by former executives asking a judge to move their criminal case over a chemical spill. In Charleston federal court May 29, prosecutors wrote that ex-Freedom Industries officials Gary Southern...
More Than 7,700 Gallons of Oil Sopped Up from California Coast
May 22 2015 // More than 7,700 gallons of oil has been raked, skimmed and vacuumed from a spill that stretched across 9 miles of California coast, just a fraction of the sticky, stinking goo that escaped from a broken pipeline, officials...
AXA Plans to Sell Coal Assets, Citing Concerns About Climate Change
May 22 2015 // France’s largest insurer will scrap holdings in coal companies because of concerns about climate change, broadening support for the fossil-fuel divestment movement to a major mainstream investor. AXA SA Chief...
The Scoop on Recall Insurance and Listeria-Linked Ice Cream
May 22 2015 // While peanut butter and cantaloupe made big news in recent years, ice cream is now the latest item to be pulled off grocery store shelves due to foodborne-illness. Brenham, Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries’...
Courts and Carriers Can Misapply the Absolute Pollution Exclusion
May 19 2015 // Never let it be said that an exclusion would or could be misapplied; but the absolute pollution exclusion likely qualifies as the most misapplied exclusion within the commercial general liability (CGL) policy. Reasons for...
Environmental Groups Sue, Charge Oil Train Safety Rules Inadequate
May 18 2015 // Seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging safety rules issued earlier this month for trains carrying oil, arguing the regulations are too weak to protect the public. The groups, including the...
Duke Energy Settles North Carolina Coal Ash Criminal Case for $102M
May 18 2015 // As Duke Energy pleaded guilty Thursday in a North Carolina courtroom to nine criminal violations of the federal Clean Water Act, federal prosecutors recounted examples where time and again the nation’s largest...
Bankruptcy Judge Rejects Freedom Industries’ Chemical Spill Settlement
May 18 2015 // A judge has rejected a $6.7 million bankruptcy plan by the company behind a January 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia. In a federal bankruptcy court filing last week, Judge Ronald Pearson said Freedom Industries and...
