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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • February 21, 2025

    Intervenors Support EPA In PFAS Designation Case Amid Agency’s Abeyance Motion

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awaits a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s decision on a motion to postpone for 60 days, a group of environmental agency intervenors filed a brief in support of denying petitions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations filed asking the panel to vacate a final rule promulgated by the agency that added two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

  • February 20, 2025

    Rehearing For Train Car CAA, EPRCA Violations, Penalty Denied By 9th Circuit

    SPOKANE, Wash.   — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied an anhydrous ammonia supplier’s request for rehearing and rehearing en banc regarding an $850,000 penalty and injunction imposed upon it for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by storing train cars carrying a regulated hazardous substance at its Othello, Wash., facility.

  • February 19, 2025

    Oil Companies Seek Review Of Ruling Remanding WWII Improper Drilling Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals contradicted precedent created in asbestos cases and erred in imposing a “crabbed view” of federal officer removal that requires a causal nexus or contractual root to the conduct in question, oil companies accused of improper drilling during World War II tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari.

  • February 18, 2025

    9th Circuit Majority Reverses Dismissal In NEPA, RCRA Case Against Air Force

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel majority reversed and remanded a district court judge’s dismissal of a Guam-based nonprofit corporation’s lawsuit challenging the U.S. Air Force’s decision to engage in hazardous waste disposal at Tarague Beach, finding that the final agency action “was ripe for judicial review” and that the nonprofit had standing to challenge a procedural injury under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and can state a claim by alleging noncompliance with the statute.

  • February 14, 2025

    Government Asks Federal Judge To Deny Tribe Intervention In Utah Fracking Case

    SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. and Utah governments asked a federal judge in Utah to deny a motion filed by the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation to intervene in a settled case involving Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at a fracking operator’s oil and gas production facilities on the tribe’s reservation, stating that the tribe makes the same argument it did during negotiations for a consent decree reached between the government and the operator and “does not meet the standard for intervention as of right or permissive intervention.”

  • February 13, 2025

    Judgment For Manufacturing Defendants In Drinking Water Contamination Case Amended

    FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A federal judge in Indiana said an earlier judgment issued in favor of the owners and operators of a northeast Indiana manufacturing facility regarding three claims for relief sought by plaintiffs allegedly exposed to trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride, benzene and other chemicals in their drinking water “was misdirected” in granting the plaintiffs’ motion to alter or amend the order and dismissing the claims without prejudice.

  • February 12, 2025

    Washington Federal Judge Grants Mine Owner’s Motion For Judgment In CAA Case

    SPOKANE, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington has halted the state’s attempts to continue separately litigating a citizen suit it filed with an environmental group against a gold mine owner and operator alleging liability under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging pollutants from the mine into ground and surface waters in excess of discharge permit limits by granting the owner and operator’s motion for judgment on the pleadings after they entered a consent decree with the environmental group.

  • February 07, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies New Administration’s Motions To Delay CAA Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 7 denied three motions filed by the acting solicitor general to pause briefing in several cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act (CAA) following opposition from the other parties.

  • February 05, 2025

    Hawaii Federal Judge Denies Navy’s Motion To Dismiss CWA Fuel Release Claims

    HONOLULU — A federal judge in Hawaii said an environmental group has standing and adequately stated claims under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for releases from an underground fuel storage facility in denying the U.S. Navy’s motion to dismiss.

  • February 04, 2025

    Judge Grants Initial OK To $1M PFAS Deal Between Chemical Company And Class Members

    ROME, Ga. — A federal judge in Georgia has granted preliminary approval to a partial class action settlement that requires a chemical company that manufactures and supplies products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to a northwest Georgia textile mill to pay $1 million to a group of water subscribers and ratepayers who have been detrimentally affected by the company’s contamination of their drinking water supply.

  • February 04, 2025

    Rehearing Sought In 9th Circuit Train Car Case For CAA, EPRCA Violations, Penalty

    SPOKANE, Wash.  — An anhydrous ammonia supplier that was penalized and reprimanded for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) for storing train cars carrying a regulated hazardous substance at its Othello, Wash., facility is asking a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel for rehearing and rehearing en banc regarding the $850,000 penalty and injunction.

  • February 04, 2025

    3rd Opposition To EPA’s Motion To Delay U.S. Supreme Court CAA Cases Filed

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in multiple U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings, make years of litigation ineffectual and “severely prejudice petitioners.”

  • February 04, 2025

    States Support EPA In D.C. Circuit PFAS Hazardous Substances Designation Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C.  — A group of amici curiae states is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its effort to convince the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to deny petitions the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and six trade associations filed asking it to vacate a final rule promulgated by the agency that added two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of hazardous substances covered by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

  • January 29, 2025

    Administration’s Attempt To Pause High Court CAA Case Briefings Meets Resistance

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Petitioners and respondents opposed to two of three motions filed by the acting U.S. solicitor general to pause briefing in U.S. Supreme Court cases challenging circuit court venue propriety and standing under the Clean Air Act say delays would hold up lower court proceedings and make years of litigation ineffectual.

  • January 28, 2025

    Ohio Village, Norfolk Southern Settle Train Derailment Claims For $22 Million

    EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The village of East Palestine, Ohio, and Norfolk Southern Corp. on Jan. 27 jointly announced a $22 million settlement to resolve all claims brought by the village arising from the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in 2023 that released toxic chemicals into the environment, according to a news release posted on the village’s website.  Litigation involving other parties in the train derailment remain active.

  • January 24, 2025

    Amici Curiae Rally Behind Texas In Supreme Court Nuclear Waste Licensing Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. senators and representatives from Texas are among a barrage of amici curiae that filed nine briefs in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases in support of the state and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their effort to convince the high court that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at facility in west Texas.

  • January 23, 2025

    Refineries Tell High Court EPA’s Arguments In CAA Venue Case ‘Fail’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several small refineries that were denied requests for exemptions from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the U.S. Supreme Court that a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s judgment denying transfer of the case to the District of Columbia Circuit should be affirmed because the agency’s final actions were locally, not nationally, applicable and because the agency’s arguments “fail.”

  • January 22, 2025

    EPA, Supreme Court Petitioners Argue Circuit Jurisdiction For CAA Challenges

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a respondent brief that arguments by Oklahoma and Utah and several companies and utilities that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is the right venue to decide challenges to the EPA’s decision to disapprove state implementation plans for new air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) “impose atextual requirements and fail to give effect to the provision Congress enacted.”

  • January 22, 2025

    Bid To Compel Production Of Reinsurance Info Denied In Cleanup Costs Dispute

    PADUCAH, Ky. — Saying in part that “neither claims manuals and guidelines nor reinsurance-related documents are relevant to Phase I of this litigation,” a Kentucky federal magistrate judge denied a motion to compel production in a dispute over pollution-related cleanup costs.

  • January 21, 2025

    Texas Says It’s Not The Place For Nuclear Waste In High Court Licensing Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) argue in a brief filed in two consolidated U.S. Supreme Court cases that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ correctly interpreted the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) and elements of the Hobbs Act when it vacated approval of a license allowing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a government contractor to store spent nuclear fuel at a west Texas facility, as the federal government already has clear directive for disposing of materials at Yucca Mountain and other “interim federal facilities—not a private facility in Texas.”

  • January 17, 2025

    Federal Judge Orders EPA Decision On Refinery Hardship Petition; Appeal Expected

    SHREVEPORT, La. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordered to decide by Jan. 22 a small refinery’s petition for hardship relief from the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) Renewable Fuel Standard program after a Louisiana federal judge, in granting the refinery’s motion for summary judgment, called the agency’s arguments for an extension “unpersuasive” because it had more than 200 days to decide on the petition but “continuously failed to act.”

  • January 16, 2025

    Couple Seeks Judgment On Right To Recover CERCLA Costs For AFFF Contamination

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A married couple that runs a dairy farm has moved for leave to file a motion for partial summary judgment in the litigation over contamination from the firefighting agent known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), which contains per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), contending that they are entitled to recover the costs associated with compliance requirements related to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

  • January 14, 2025

    High Court Requests U.S. Response In Washington Port Facility CWA Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 invited the solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on the issue of whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was correct in ruling that two Washington state-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits applied to the entirety of a terminal where stormwater discharges entered into Puget Sound on the grounds that private citizens cannot bring actions in federal court to enforce certain state permit conditions under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  • January 14, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Chloroprene Counterclaim, Says D.C. Circuit Has Jurisdiction

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana has granted the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss an amended counterclaim filed by a defendant chemical company in an injury lawsuit involving carcinogenic chloroprene emissions from neoprene manufacturing operations, ruling that the chemical company’s argument that the district court has jurisdiction to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action would “nullify Congress’ choice” to assign the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review Clean Air Act (CAA) actions, whether the EPA acted lawfully or not.

  • January 14, 2025

    Supreme Court Denies Oil Companies’ Petitions In Hawaii Climate Change Cases

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a pair of petitions for writ of certiorari filed by two groups of oil companies that asked the court to determine whether the Hawaii Supreme Court erred in finding that claims arising from the companies’ alleged efforts to conceal the potential effects of their fossil fuel products on global climate change are not preempted by federal law.