Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
California Sues Glass Company Over Hazardous Waste in Wine Bottles
Mar 4 2015 // California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control says it is suing a glass company for violating recycling laws after it added hazardous waste dust to wine bottles made at its Modesto plant. The department said...
ACE Launches Pollution Liability Coverage for Agriculture Risks
Mar 2 2015 // ACE Group has introduced a new agriculture premises pollution liability coverage that provides limited pollution liability protection in conjunction with ACE’s Agribusiness Commercial general liability policy. The...
Increase in Kentucky Fracking Prompts Lawmakers to Update Rules
Feb 26 2015 // As Kentucky mines less coal and produces more natural gas, state lawmakers want to update the environmental protection rules that drilling companies are required to follow. But some landowners worry the state’s rush...
Duke Energy Faces Federal Charges from Illegal Pollution at 5 North Carolina Plants
Feb 23 2015 // Federal prosecutors filed multiple criminal charges against Duke Energy on Friday over years of illegal pollution leaking from coal ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. The three U.S. Attorney’s Offices...
10 Things to Know About Boats & Marinas
Feb 23 2015 // Recreational boating in 2013 accounted for 4,062 accidents that involved 560 deaths; 2,620 injuries; and approximately $39 million dollars of property damage. —United States Coast Guard (USCG) Compared to 2012, the...
E&O Insights: How to Calm the E&O Waters When Insuring Marinas
Feb 23 2015 // As spring approaches, agencies may have some opportunities to secure commercial accounts dealing with watercraft business. These accounts, typically classified as marinas, boat yards or boat moorage, offer a multitude of...
SEC Filing: Duke Energy Expects to Settle Criminal Charges from Spill for $100M
Feb 20 2015 // Duke Energy expects to pay $100 million to settle an ongoing federal criminal investigation that began after a massive coal ash spill at a North Carolina plant. The details are contained in an earnings report filed with...
Navigators Launches Lloyd’s-Based International Casualty Unit
Feb 19 2015 // The Navigators Group, Inc. announced that Navigators Underwriting Agency Ltd., its wholly owned Lloyd’s managing agency subsidiary, has created an International Casualty unit, which will “offer a range of...
Court Rules BP Not Covered by Transocean’s $750M Insurance
Feb 17 2015 // BP Plc isn’t covered under Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies for the undersea well blowout that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the Texas Supreme Court said, blocking the oil company’s access...
Ex-Owner of West Virginia Chemical Co. Responsible for Spill Requests Trial Delay
Feb 6 2015 // The former owner of a chemical company that fouled drinking water used by hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents wants his trial delayed. Attorneys for Charles Herzing cite the heft of documents they must review...
Regulators Determining Fines for Duke After Coal Ash Spill in North Carolina
Feb 4 2015 // A year after the sudden collapse of an old drainage pipe triggered the third largest coal ash spill in U.S. history, regulators say they are still working to determine how much to fine the nation’s largest...
BP Witness Praises Oil Spill Response at Fines Trial
Jan 27 2015 // BP Plc “conducted an extraordinarily effective response” to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, the company’s first witness testified Monday as the oil producer sought to minimize potential pollution fines. BP...
Montana Smelting Company Says Atlantic Richfield Concealed Pollution
Jan 26 2015 // American Smelting and Refining Co. said in a Montana lawsuit filed earlier this month that Atlantic Richfield Co. concealed pollution-related documents during the sale of Atlantic Richfield’s zinc fuming plant to...
New Charge Filed for Ex-President of Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill
Jan 26 2015 // A former Freedom Industries executive charged in a West Virginia chemical spill is facing a new federal fraud charge stemming from the company’s bankruptcy. A federal grand jury in Beckley handed up a superseding...
BP Argues for Lower Oil Spill Penalty
Jan 21 2015 // Last week’s ruling that BP Plc’s Macondo well dumped less oil into the Gulf of Mexico than the U.S. government claimed may trigger a settlement before a decision on the amount it must pay after a trial set to...
3 Executives Charged in West Virginia Chemical Spill Plead Not Guilty
Jan 14 2015 // Three executives charged in last January’s West Virginia chemical spill have pleaded not guilty in federal court. The pleas came a day after an FBI affidavit was unsealed, saying Freedom Industries knew about...
Tennessee Environmental Agency Sues TVA Over Coal Ash at Gallatin Plant
Jan 14 2015 // The Tennessee state agency charged with protecting the environment is suing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) over its coal-burning power plant in Gallatin. The lawsuit, filed January 7 by the Tennessee Dept. of...
No Contamination Detected after Ohio Refinery Explosion
Jan 13 2015 // No dangerous contaminants were released into the air by an explosion at an oil refinery that was felt 10 miles away and sparked a fire that burned for more than 14 hours, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency...
Report: West Virginia Chemical Spill Company Aware of Defects
Jan 12 2015 // A West Virginia attorney general report says the company behind last January’s chemical spill knew of its facility’s defects for years. The report by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey office says that a 2010...
West Virginia Chemical Spill Posed Inhalation Risk: Study
Jan 9 2015 // Federal health officials overlooked risks of inhaling the licorice-scented fumes of a chemical that spilled into West Virginia’s biggest water supply last January, according to a study. The research by a Purdue...
