Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Won’t Halt Salvage of Capsized Ship on Georgia Coast
Mar 31 2020 // A federal judge ruled she will not halt removal of a capsized cargo ship along the Georgia coast while a salvage company that lost the job to a competitor sues the U.S. Coast Guard. The decision by U.S. District Court...
Oil Industry Seeks Easing of Environmental Regulation During Pandemic
Mar 26 2020 // The Environmental Protection Agency said this week that it’s reviewing a request from the oil and gas industry to ease enforcement of hazardous air and water pollution and other regulatory issues during the...
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Does Business Income Respond?
Mar 24 2020 // Over the past two weeks, the VU has received countless questions concerning COVID-19 (the coronavirus) and the business income policy. As authorities require businesses to limit activities or shut down completely, the fear...
Commentary: Does Business Income Insurance Cover Coronavirus Shutdowns?
Mar 24 2020 // On March 16, a lawsuit was filed in district court in New Orleans seeking a declaratory judgment about whether the business income coverage in a Lloyd’s property policy would cover a government-mandated shutdown or...
Restaurant Suit Tests Business Interruption Insurance for Coronavirus Shutdowns
Mar 19 2020 // A restaurant in the heart of the New Orleans tourism district filed a lawsuit on Monday asking a state judge for a declaratory judgment that its business-interruption policy will cover its damages if it is ordered to close...
Louisiana Chemical Plant Asks Regulators to Allow Higher Emissions of Potential Toxin
Mar 18 2020 // A Louisiana chemical plant that agreed to lower its emissions of a potentially harmful toxin now wants to raise them based on research indicating the compound is safe at much higher levels than what federal environmental...
Pipeline Owner Agrees to Pay $60M in 2015 California Spill
Mar 16 2020 // The owner of an oil pipeline that spewed thousands of barrels of crude oil onto Southern California beaches in 2015 will pay $60 million to to settle allegations that it violated safety laws, the U.S. Environmental...
U.S. Jury Awards Four VW Diesel Owners $100K in Punitive Damages Over Cheating
Mar 11 2020 // A U.S. jury in California on Monday awarded the drivers of four Volkswagen AG vehicles a total of $100,000 as punitive damages for being sold diesel vehicles that emitted excess pollution, although the amount awarded was a...
Ex-Tenant Sues Oregon RV Park for $555K over Living Conditions
Mar 5 2020 // A former tenant at an RV park south of Warrenton, Ore., has filed a lawsuit against the owner alleging negligence over living conditions in a trailer. Sandra Holloway moved into a “dry trailer” at Sunset Lake...
Georgia County to Test Water for Coal Ash Contamination
Mar 3 2020 // Officials in a central Georgia county say they will pay to test water wells for coal ash contamination. Monroe County Manager Jim Hedges tells WGXA-TV that the county will pay $10,000 to test about 55 private wells across...
Walsh Duffield Announces Partnership with New York’s OSEA
Mar 3 2020 // Walsh Duffield, a fifth-generation, family owned insurance company, has partnered with OSEA Inc., a 30-year-old environmental, health, safety and security consulting firm, to provide risk management services to its...
Salvage Firm Mum on Environmental Impact of Plan for Overturned Georgia Cargo Ship
Feb 27 2020 // Officials for a salvage company suing to halt demolition of an overturned cargo ship on the Georgia coast appeared to back away Tuesday from claims that sawing the vessel into enormous chunks would cause an...
Texas Sues TPC Group, Owner of Port Neches Chemical Plant That Exploded
Feb 25 2020 // Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued TPC Group over environmental violations associated with the Nov. 27 explosion at the company’s Port Neches chemical plant, a blast that prompted widespread mandatory...
Grant Will Help Virginia Test Schools for Lead in Water
Feb 25 2020 // The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced it was awarding Virginia over $700,000 in grant funding to assist with identifying sources of lead in drinking water in schools and child care facilities. The...
Judge Wants Questions Answered on Plan to Remove Capsized Ship in Georgia
Feb 24 2020 // A federal judge on Friday ordered attorneys for the U.S. Coast Guard and a maritime salvage company to answer detailed questions about plans to remove an overturned cargo ship on the Georgia coast by sawing it into eight...
But Wait. Here’s ‘The Rest of The Story’ on Buffett’s Lubrizol
Feb 24 2020 // In his firm’s annual report released this weekend, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett included a side note on one of the companies his conglomerate bought in 2011 for $9 billion, a company called...
How Costs for Obesity Vary by Industry
Feb 24 2020 // Although obese employees incur higher direct and indirect costs, the extent of obesity-related costs tends to be lower in some industrial sectors than others– including healthcare, according to a recent study in the...
How One County Plans to Vet Insurers for Fossil Fuel Investments
Feb 20 2020 // “We have front row seats,” said Elise Jones, a Boulder County commissioner. Jones along with two other commissioners oversees government affairs in the Colorado county of 330,000 or so at the base of the...
In Houston, a City with No Zoning, Warehouse Blast Prompts Safety Debate
Feb 18 2020 // Houston’s lack of zoning restrictions has left many residents with neighbors they don’t want: petrochemical facilities and businesses that handle hazardous materials. That unease was laid bare again last month...
Jury Awards $265M to Farmer Claiming Drifting Herbicides Damaged His Orchard
Feb 17 2020 // A Missouri jury’s $265 million award to peach grower Bill Bader in his lawsuit against herbicide providers Bayer and BASF has raised the stakes for the two companies as at least 140 similar cases head to U.S. courts...
