Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Liberty Mutual Inks Reinsurance Deal with Berkshire’s National Indemnity
Jul 18 2014 // Liberty Mutual Insurance said it has reached a deal with National Indemnity Co. (NICO), a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., on a combined aggregate adverse development cover for substantially all of Liberty...
Aon Launches Custom Liability Product for Railroad Industry
Jul 17 2014 // Aon Risk Solutions, the global risk management business of Aon plc, has launched a new product designed to support the railroad industry, including Class I railroads. Called the Cantilever Excess Pollution Liability...
Settlement in New Mexico Stemmed from Air Pollution Allegations
Jul 14 2014 // The owner of a natural gas plant in southeastern New Mexico has agreed to pay the state nearly $70,000 to settle a case involving allegations of air quality violations. The New Mexico Environment Department announced the...
No Air Quality Testing During West Virginia Chemical Tank Demolition
Jul 14 2014 // State and federal environmental officials say they don’t have a way to monitor air quality as chemical storage tanks are taken down at the industrial site that fouled public drinking supplies for 300,000 West...
Asbestos Complaint Forces Idaho Agency to Pay $56,000
Jul 10 2014 // The Environmental Protection Agency says Idaho inmates were exposed to asbestos when they were sent to work at an Idaho Transportation Department maintenance shop without proper training or equipment. The federal agency...
Chemical Spill Caused Health Effects for 1 in 5 West Virginians: Survey
Jul 9 2014 // One in five West Virginians who responded to a survey thought they had health issues after a chemical spill into the water supply in January. In the survey conducted in April by state and federal health officials, 36...
Why Conservatives’ Climate Policy Won’t Work: Flavelle
Jul 8 2014 // There’s a lot to like about Eli Lehrer’s argument for National Review that conservatives should stop downplaying global warming and instead try to take advantage of it. But beyond demonstrating the promise of...
New Jersey Superfund Site Lawsuit Allowed to Proceed
Jul 7 2014 // A lawsuit filed against a New Jersey town and county and the Army Corps of Engineers over the nearly $80 million cleanup of a Raritan Bay Superfund site can proceed, a federal judge ruled last week. U.S. District Judge...
Climate Change Bottom-Line Talk Grows, S&P Director Says
Jul 7 2014 // Companies and governments worldwide are changing their behaviors and examining their risks in the face of climate change, a managing director for Standard & Poor’s said, holding up the insurance industry as a...
N.J.’s Proposed New Rules for Coastal Development Drawing Concerns
Jul 1 2014 // Environmentalists say New Jersey’s proposed new rules for coastal development would place more people and property at risk from future storms like Superstorm Sandy. At the first of three public hearings on the...
European Insurance Federation Opposes Compulsory Environmental Liability
Jul 1 2014 // “An EU-wide compulsory environmental liability insurance system would not benefit customers and so should not be introduced,” according to Insurance Europe, the European insurance and reinsurance...
Overselling the Costs, Benefits of Greenhouse Gas Regulations
Jul 1 2014 // The Environmental Protection Agency calls its carbon rules an economic winner that will deliver more than $10 in benefits for each dollar spent on compliance. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the economic costs of...
The Right Climate for Tree Huggers, Hippies and iPads
Jun 27 2014 // Editor’s Note: This is the first of an ongoing column covering the impact of climate change and emerging environmental regulations on the insurance and financial industries. It will appear every other week. The 1970s...
Lawsuit Blames West Virginia Airport for Role in Chemical Spill
Jun 26 2014 // A federal lawsuit blames a Charleston airport runway project for the January chemical spill that left 300,000 residents without clean water for days. The lawsuit says Yeager Airport’s completed runway extension never...
Missteps Ongoing at West Virginia’s Freedom Industries
Jun 24 2014 // For the West Virginia company that sullied 300,000 people’s drinking water to start the year, slip-ups like not reading emails and leaving the company chemical headquarters unattended have produced problems for...
Deadline for Charleston Chemical Spill Claims Set
Jun 20 2014 // A federal bankruptcy judge has set an Aug. 1 deadline for financial claims by West Virginia residents and businesses affected by a January chemical spill in Charleston that contaminated the local water supply. Proof of...
New Ohio Drilling Policy May Be Good for Oil & Gas, Insurance Industries
Jun 20 2014 // Ohio in mid-April 2014 enacted stricter regulations for oil and gas drilling near faults or areas of past seismic activity, a move that some, including insurers, may view as a step in the right direction. The Ohio...
Pennsylvania Sues Oil Companies for MTBE Pollution
Jun 19 2014 // Pennsylvania accused oil companies of polluting the state’s groundwater with a gasoline additive, joining states including New York, Vermont and New Hampshire that have brought similar lawsuits. Two complaints filed...
Missouri Court Tosses $240M Punitive Award from Smelter Lawsuit
Jun 19 2014 // A Missouri appeals court has thrown out $240 million in punitive damages awarded to 16 eastern Missouri residents who sued over health problems from the Herculaneum lead smelter. A jury awarded the damages against former...
If Fracking Is the Question, Insurers May Ask – What Is the Answer?
Jun 19 2014 // When it comes to the use of evolving technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in oil and gas production one big question insurance companies are faced with is: to insure or not to insure? That is a key...
