Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ex-Freedom President Gets 1 Month in Prison for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 18 2016 // An executive who appeared unsympathetic when he spoke to the public after a chemical spill sullied tap water for 300,000 people in West Virginia was sentenced to one month in federal prison Wednesday. Ex-Freedom Industries...
Climate Change’s No Justice, No Pancake, No Fly Zone
Feb 18 2016 // A conceivable diminishment in my pancake experience is what I’ll take away from the last two weeks of weird headlines tied to the topic of climate change. However, it was the rancor over the death of Supreme Court...
Lawsuit Says N.J.’s Post-Sandy Coastal Zone Rules ‘Don’t Make Sense’
Feb 17 2016 // Some New Jersey residents and environmental groups are suing to try to block the state’s new rules governing coastal development in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, saying they allow too many people and buildings to be...
Ex-Freedom Industries Exec Sentenced to 1 Month for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 17 2016 // A former Freedom Industries executive was sentenced Feb. 11 to one month in federal prison for a chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians. Dennis Farrell also was fined $20,000 in...
Sierra Club Lawsuit Claims Fracking Contributing to Oklahoma Earthquakes
Feb 16 2016 // Sierra Club weighed into the controversy over fracking and increased earthquake risk with a lawsuit accusing a Chesapeake Energy Corp. unit, Devon Energy Production Co. and New Dominion LLC of triggering tremors in...
Midwest Group Challenges Peabody Energy’s Plan to Self-Bond Mines
Feb 16 2016 // A Midwestern environmental group has followed through on its promise to formally challenge Peabody Energy’s ability to guarantee it has enough money for future cleanup of its Illinois and Indiana coal mines. The...
Cleanup Plan Finally Approved For Contaminated Montana Town
Feb 12 2016 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted final approval this week to a costly cleanup program for a Montana community where health officials say hundreds of people have been killed by asbestos poisoning. The...
‘Weird & Wacky’ Methods to Absorb Global Warming Pollution Viewed Too Risky
Feb 11 2016 // Some of the most dramatic measures to suck global warming pollution out of the atmosphere are probably too risky to be worth trying, an academic at a climate research institution concluded. Phil Williamson, a scientist at...
How Supreme Court Could Upend Obama Clean Power Plan
Feb 11 2016 // The U.S. Supreme Court’s unexpected move to block President Barack Obama’s policy to cut pollution from coal plants highlights what both sides in the legal fight agree is a key weakness in the rules — a...
New Jersey 4th State to Sue Volkswagen Over Excess Diesel Emissions
Feb 8 2016 // New Jersey on Friday, Feb. 5, filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen AG and its luxury units over the German automaker’s excess diesel emissions, becoming the fourth U.S. state to take legal action. New Jersey’s...
Company Responsible for West Virginia Chemical Receives ‘Symbolic’ Fine
Feb 8 2016 // A bankrupt chemical company responsible for a spill that contaminated a West Virginia river and fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 residents was fined $900,000 on pollution charges Feb. 4, with a judge noting that...
FBI Joins Investigation into Lead Contamination of Flint Water System
Feb 3 2016 // The FBI is working with a multi-agency team investigating the lead contamination of Flint’s drinking water, alongside Environmental Protection Agency investigators who can tackle criminal violations of federal...
Officials Expect Zika Virus in U.S. by April; Outdoor Spraying Called Ineffective
Feb 3 2016 // Health experts are bracing for Zika virus to spread to the United States by April or May, borne by a mosquito that craves human blood, feeds during the day and lives under beds and inside closets. Until now, the best...
Freedom Industries Official Sentenced for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 3 2016 // A former environmental consultant at a chemical distributor was sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $10,000 Monday for a 2014 chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West...
UCPM Launches Online Environmental Consultants Program
Jan 31 2016 // UCPM, Inc., an environmental insurance provider, has entered into an agreement with Rockhill Insurance Co. to offer a comprehensive insurance package for environmental consultants that includes commercial general...
Lawsuit Seeks Replacement of Lead Pipes in Flint, Michigan
Jan 28 2016 // Environmental and civil rights groups are asking a federal judge to order the prompt replacement of all lead pipes in Flint’s water system to ensure residents of the Michigan city have a safe drinking supply. A...
Safe Harbor Pollution Insurance Increases Marine Pollution Liability Capacity
Jan 27 2016 // Safe Harbor Pollution Insurance, a provider of vessel pollution liability insurance, has expanded its carrier partnerships to include Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co. (BHSI) and Argonaut Insurance Co. Safe Harbor...
Survey of Economists Shows Climate Change Impact Sooner, More Severe
Jan 21 2016 // The impact from climate change is more imminent than most believe, and it’s going to take a big economic chunk out of a lot of bottom-lines. That’s according to a recent report from the Institute for Policy...
Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Leads to Federal Emergency Order
Jan 19 2016 // President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration Saturday that clears the way for federal aid for Flint, Michigan, which is undergoing a drinking water crisis. The White House also said the Federal Emergency...
Brazil Police Accuse Vale, Samarco of Environmental Crime for Mine Disaster
Jan 15 2016 // Brazil’s Federal Police accused Vale SA and its Brazilian joint venture with BHP Billiton Ltd of environmental crime related to a November dam collapse that destroyed a city in the country’s southeast and sent...
