Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Chevron Response To No. Calif. Refinery Fire Under Criticism
Aug 9 2012 // Investigators were looking at how a small, seemingly insignificant leak at one of the country’s biggest oil refineries quickly unraveled into an intense fire that sent acrid black smoke into the sky and hundreds of...
Washington Announces New Rain Runoff Requirements
Aug 6 2012 // Washington state will begin requiring municipalities to use “rain gardens” and pervious pavement in new urban developments to combat rainwater pollution to the state’s rivers and lakes and to the Puget...
Natural Gas Drilling Co. Tells N.Y.: Stop the Local Bans or We’ll Sue
Aug 1 2012 // A natural gas drilling company is taking a new tack in the industry’s fight against local drilling bans: It’s threatening to sue if New York regulators don’t step in and extinguish the prohibitions. John...
Environmentalists To Sue Colstrip Over Pollution in Mont.
Jul 27 2012 // Environmentalists filed notice Wednesday that they plan to sue the six companies that co-own eastern Montana’s Colstrip power plant over alleged pollution violations. The Sierra Club and Montana Environmental...
West Virginia Mine Regulators Slow on Inspections, Permits
Jul 27 2012 // West Virginia mine regulators have failed to meet internal goals for timely inspections and permits, a legislative audit concluded, but agency officials disagree with the auditors over why. The report released this week to...
Redwood City Firm Sued Over Dumping Of Toxic Waste
Jul 25 2012 // San Mateo County prosecutors are suing a Redwood City construction company they claim illegally dumped five barrels of hazardous materials in a garbage bin. The lawsuit alleges that three sanitation workers were sent to a...
Interior Plan Expedites Solar Development In West
Jul 25 2012 // The Obama administration moved Tuesday to streamline the development of large-scale solar projects on public lands by approving 17 vast tracts across the West it says has the highest power-generating potential and the...
Oil Firms, Regulators Miss Major Accident Indicators: Gulf Spill Report
Jul 25 2012 // Transocean and BP, trade associations, and U.S. regulators largely judged the safety of offshore facilities by focusing on routine personal injury and fatality data such as dropped objects and trips and falls when they...
Suit Says Hyundai Inflated 40 Mpg Claim
Jul 23 2012 // A California lawsuit says Hyundai’s Elantra vehicle doesn’t get the advertised 40 miles per gallon. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog joined Elantra buyer Louis Bird in the Sacramento lawsuit claiming...
Tainted Montana Town Reaches Cleanup Milestone
Jul 23 2012 // Grass and freshly planted trees are sprouting in a new town park that sits atop the site of a vermiculite plant that once spewed asbestos dust across the mountain community of Libby — a welcome dose of normalcy for a...
Tainted Montana Town Reaches Cleanup Milestone
Jul 16 2012 // Grass and freshly planted trees are sprouting in a new town park that sits atop the site of a vermiculite plant that once spewed asbestos dust across the mountain community of Libby – a welcome dose of normalcy for a...
Texas Judge Rules Atmosphere, Air Is Public Trust
Jul 13 2012 // A Texas judge has ruled that the atmosphere and air must be protected for public use, just like water, which could help attorneys tasked with arguing climate change lawsuits designed to force states to cut emissions. The...
ACE Expands Catastrophe Management Services for Environmental Risks
Jul 13 2012 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group, has expanded its environmental risk insurance products to add catastrophe management coverage. In addition to coverage for standard remediation services included...
Chartis Adds Power Pack Protect Product for Power Generation Industry
Jul 13 2012 // The Chartis insurers have added PLL Power Pack Protect to the NextGen Protection suite of industry specific insurance products. PLL Power Pack Protect is designed to address environmental exposures associated with...
Suit Says Hyundai Inflated 40 Mph Claim
Jul 12 2012 // A California lawsuit says Hyundai’s Elantra vehicle doesn’t get the advertised 40 miles per gallon. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog joined Elantra buyer Louis Bird in the Sacramento lawsuit claiming...
PartnerOne, Berkley Environmental to Offer Site Pollution Liability
Jul 12 2012 // PartnerOne Environmental , an underwriting division of Beacon Hill Associates’, is now working in partnership with Berkley Environmental, a dvision of Berkley Specialty Underwriting Managers, to offer site pollution...
Feds Say 160K Tires At Southern California Recycling Plant Pose Danger
Jul 10 2012 // Federal regulators say a Southern California desert tire recycler’s 160,000 discarded tires are dangerous. The Environmental Protection Agency told Mecca’s Consolidated Tire Recyclers a year ago that the tires...
Federal Regulators Settle Whistleblower Case with Texas-Based Pilgrim’s Pride
Jul 5 2012 // The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. in Mount Pleasant, Texas, to resolve allegations that the company terminated an employee who raised environmental...
ACE Releases First Dollar Defense Endorsement for CPL Coverage
Jul 3 2012 // ACE USA has released ACE first dollar defense endorsement for contractors pollution liability (CPL) coverage. This new offering provides financial support for contractors facing litigation and defense costs for pollution...
Re/insurers Join Efforts to Support UN’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance
Jun 25 2012 // A number of insurers and reinsurers have agreed to join the UN-backed set of Principles for Sustainable Insurance. The initiative aims to provide insurance tools for risk management in support of environmental, social and...
