Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Fracking, Earthquakes and Insurance: A Collision Course?
May 18 2015 // There is increasing information suggesting that hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking,” is not all it’s cracked up to be. While it is clear that the resurgence of oil and gas production in the...
Appeals Court Returns Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ Lawsuit to Judge
May 12 2015 // A federal judge who ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to take action to regulate farm runoff and other pollution blamed for the Gulf of Mexico’s annual oxygen-depleted “dead zone” must take a...
Some Asbestos to Remain in Montana Town Under Final EPA Plan
May 7 2015 // Federal regulators’ long-delayed final cleanup plan for a Montana mining town where thousands have been sickened by asbestos contamination would leave some of the deadly material where it sits, in the walls of...
Court Fight over Dow Chemical Herbicide Widens to 15 States
Apr 30 2015 // A court fight over use of a new Dow Chemical herbicide on genetically engineered U.S. corn and soybean crops is growing to encompass 15 Midwestern states after the company recently won federal approval for more widespread...
New Mining Map Tool from Environmental Activists Finds West Virginia Most at Risk
Apr 30 2015 // Environmental activists said that mountaintop removal coal mining has been expanding closer to communities in central Appalachia in recent years, with nearly half of the 50 areas most at risk in West Virginia. As part of...
Exxon Mobil Subsidiaries to Pay Nearly $5M for Arkansas Pipeline Spill
Apr 24 2015 // Two subsidiaries of Exxon Mobil must pay almost $5 million in penalties for state and federal violations involving the 2013 Mayflower oil spill in central Arkansas, according to a consent decree filed in federal court on...
Oil, Gas Driller Settles for $73 M in Colorado Pollution Case
Apr 23 2015 // Major oil and gas driller Noble Energy has agreed to pay more than $73 million in a settlement with state and federal regulators over Colorado Front Range air-pollution violations. The Denver Post reported that the...
XL Group Introduces New Environmental Excess Policy Form
Apr 20 2015 // XL Group’s Environmental insurance business has created a new excess insurance policy to provide clients and brokers in the U.S. and Canada with a simplified way to buy an additional layer of environmental insurance...
Bottom Line: Gulf Oil Spill Isn’t an Environmental Disaster
Apr 19 2015 // In early March a 30,000-pound mat of oily gunk washed up on East Grand Terre, a barrier island in the mouth of Louisiana’s Barataria Bay. It was an ugly reminder of the blowout at BP’s Macondo well, a disaster...
It’s Insurance Buyers’ Market Now But Risk Challenges Ahead: Willis
Apr 16 2015 // Due in part to reduced catastrophe losses and the increased supply of capital, property/casualty insurance buyers can expect to face friendly market conditions on most lines of business for the remainder of 2015. But...
Judge Approves Delay in Sentencing for Duke Energy Coal Ash Crimes
Apr 16 2015 // Duke Energy received a delay Tuesday in pleading guilty to environmental crimes after the company raised the specter that bureaucratic red tape could result in power being cut to military bases across North Carolina. U.S....
Environmental Groups Sue Tennessee Valley Authority over Plant Pollution
Apr 16 2015 // Two environmental groups claim toxic pollution from a Gallatin, Tenn., power plant is seeping into the Cumberland River and state regulators are not doing enough to stop it. The allegations are part of a lawsuit filed in...
ACE Appoints O’Halloran as Environmental Risk Underwriter, U.K. & Ireland
Apr 15 2015 // ACE Group today announced the appointment of Glenn O’Halloran as environmental risk underwriter as it continues to invest in building its environmental liability insurance capabilities in the U.K. and...
Great American Expands Capacity for Pollution Products
Apr 13 2015 // Great American Insurance Group has expanded its complete pollution product line policy aggregate limits of liability to $50 million per loss/$100 million. This expanded capacity can be offered on both a primary layer or on...
Duke Energy Appeals $25M Pollution Fine by North Carolina Regulators
Apr 13 2015 // Duke Energy Corp. says a $25 million fine by North Carolina environmental regulators over coal ash pollution that has been seeping into groundwater for years is excessive and unnecessary. The country’s largest...
J.H. Blade Launches Pollution Response Service for Energy Risks
Apr 10 2015 // National upstream oil and gas energy MGA J.H. Blades & Co. Inc., along with the Swett & Crawford Dallas Energy team and the recently-acquired Burke Daniels Inc., have joined forces with Wild Well Control Inc. to...
How Another Country’s Insurance Industry Is Facing Climate Change
Apr 9 2015 // Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, lives in a country surrounded by risk on all sides, and he’s unabashed in his efforts to use flooding events, frequent storms or other...
Buchan Joins JLT Specialty’s Construction Practice; Lu Joins Environmental
Apr 8 2015 // JLT Specialty Insurance Services Inc. has appointed William Buchan as senior vice president of its Construction Practice, which is based in San Francisco. Buchan will help lead all facets of the Construction Practice, as...
Texas-Based Energy MGAs Partner with Wild Well Control for Pollution Control
Apr 8 2015 // Houston-based upstream oil and gas energy managing general agent (MGA), J.H. Blades & Co. Inc., Swett & Crawford’s Dallas energy team and the recently-acquired Burke Daniels Inc., have joined forces with Wild...
Top 5 Findings on the Environmental Harms of Crop Insurance Subsidies
Apr 7 2015 // We at R Street do a lot of warning that our nation’s misguided crop insurance supports, in combination with the disastrous Renewable Fuel Standard, are distorting land and food markets, wreaking environmental havoc...
