Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Oil Spill Panel to Issue Drilling Safety Report
Mar 16 2012 // The seven-member commission selected by President Barack Obama to investigate the Gulf oil spill is getting back together. This time, it will press for action to improve drilling safety. The re-formed group said it plans...
ARCO to Pay $1 Million to EPA At Montana Superfund Site
Mar 12 2012 // Atlantic Richfield Co. has agreed to pay $1 million to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for managing the Superfund site at the former Black Eagle smelter. “It really allows us to have a special account to do...
Judge Combines West Virginia Slurry Pollution Cases
Mar 12 2012 // The claims of hundreds of Boone County residents who blame coal companies for contaminating their water supplies will be heard in a single trial, a judge ruled last week. Circuit Judge William Thompson issued an order...
Shell Files Pre-Emptive Offshore Drilling Lawsuit
Mar 5 2012 // Shell Oil Co. is taking the offensive against environmental groups that have put legal roadblocks in the company’s path to offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The Houston-based company on Wednesday sued 11 Alaska...
BP’s Potential Pricetag for Gulf Oil Spill
Mar 5 2012 // BP Plc struck a deal on Friday to pay an estimated $7.8 billion to settle claims from individuals and businesses stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. But BP and its partners in the ill-fated Macondo well still...
Judge: BP, Anadarko, Transocean May Be Liable for Oil Pollution Claims
Mar 5 2012 // BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are liable and Transocean Ltd. may be liable for civil damages under federal pollution laws over the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. judge ruled. The decision by U.S....
Arbitrators Agree to Hear Chevron-Ecuador Pollution Liability Case
Feb 29 2012 // An international tribunal has found that it has jurisdiction to decide if Ecuador violated a treaty with the United States requiring it to guarantee a fair trial to Chevron Corp. in an environmental lawsuit that ended in...
Complex Trial Over Blame for Gulf Oil Spill Set to Open
Feb 24 2012 // It could be the ultimate case for passing the buck. A massive trial over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill heads for a New Orleans federal courtroom on Monday, to determine how much BP Plc and others should cough up for...
Judge: BP, Anadarko, Transocean May Be Liable for Oil Pollution Claims
Feb 23 2012 // BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are liable and Transocean Ltd. may be liable for civil damages under federal pollution laws over the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. judge ruled. Wednesday’s...
Wells Will Determine Groundwater Contamination in Southern California
Feb 22 2012 // Thirty wells are being installed in Burbank and Glendale in an effort to determine the extent of groundwater contamination. Small amounts of cancer-causing chromium 6 left behind by the San Fernando Valley aircraft...
State Investigates Cause of Washington’s Refinery Blaze
Feb 21 2012 // State safety inspectors are investigating the cause of a dramatic blaze at Washington’s largest oil refinery Friday near Blaine, as BP launched its own review into why it happened. The fire broke out in the sole...
Virginia High Court to Rehear Global Warming Coverage Case
Feb 20 2012 // The Virginia Supreme Court has granted rehearing of a closely followed legal case involving climate change coverage, The AES Corp. vs. Steadfast Insurance Company. The court said on Jan. 17 that its previous decision on...
New York Leads 11 States in Suing EPA Over Soot Rules
Feb 14 2012 // New York and 10 other states filed a lawsuit last Friday designed to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue new regulations on soot pollution. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the lawsuit...
Union Pacific to Pay $1.5 Million in Fines
Feb 14 2012 // Union Pacific Railroad will pay $1.5 million in fines for environmental damage in Provo and other areas of the Intermountain West. The Daily Herald of Provo reported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the...
ACE Enhances Tank Coverage
Feb 9 2012 // The ACE Group has improved its tank coverage by streamlining environmental coverage for owners and operators of aboveground and underground tanks. The insurer has combined aboveground and underground coverage in a single...
People
Feb 6 2012 // Marsh & McLennan Companies has appointed AIG executive Julio Portalatin as CEO of Mercer, MMC’s human resource consulting unit. Portalatin succeeds M. Michele Burns who left the firm last October. Portalatin...
XL Enhances Real Estate Portfolio Protection
Feb 3 2012 // XL Group’s insurance segment has launched enhanced pollution protection for real estate portfolios. The product will be available through the segment’s environmental team. The new product is aimed toward...
California Salami Plant to Pay $700K For Ammonia Leak
Feb 1 2012 // The owners of a South San Francisco salami plant will pay nearly $700,000 and overhaul its refrigeration system as part of a federal judgment stemming from an ammonia leak that sickened almost four dozen people. The U.S....
Two Vermont Towns to Decide on Abandoned Asbestos Mine
Jan 31 2012 // Voters in Lowell and Eden are going to vote on whether to request that an abandoned asbestos mine be declared a federal Superfund hazardous waste site so it can be cleaned up and eventually redeveloped as a biomass power...
Ex-BP Worker Files Whistleblower Suit Over Cleanup
Jan 30 2012 // A former BP employee has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the company, claiming he was fired for airing concerns about the cleanup of Mississippi’s shoreline after the Gulf oil spill. In a federal suit filed...
