Mealey's Pollution Liability : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Pollution Liability

July 09, 2024
No Coverage Owed For Underlying Contamination Lawsuit, Insurer Says

HOUSTON — No coverage is owed to an insured for an underlying lawsuit alleging that the insured’s gas and oil operations caused ground and water contamination because the insured did not provide notice of the lawsuit until eight years after the lawsuit was filed and after the insured agreed to settle the underlying suit, an insurer says in its complaint filed in Texas federal court.
July 09, 2024
Arizona Supreme Court Says New Mine Shaft Does Not Need New NPDES Permit

PHOENIX — A copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit because it is integrated into previous elements of an existing mine and is not considered a “new source” under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Arizona Supreme Court found in partially vacating a state appellate court’s judgment.
July 08, 2024
Insureds Say 9th Circuit Should Affirm Coverage Opinion In Pollution Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A district court correctly found that an insurer owes coverage for an underlying environmental contamination lawsuit because the insureds met their burden of proving that the underlying lawsuit alleges a potential for coverage under the policies at issue, the insureds maintain in an appellee brief filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 05, 2024
Majority Of Climate Change Claims Survive Motion To Dismiss In Colorado Court

BOULDER, Colo. — Two Colorado municipalities properly stated all but one of their claims against a group of oil and gas companies that have allegedly damaged the municipalities’ infrastructure and resources by contributing to climate change through the sale and promotion of fossil fuel products, a Colorado judge found in partly granting the oil companies’ joint motion to dismiss.
July 05, 2024
Judge: Some Groundwater Claims Are Valid Against Pfizer Related To Superfund Site

TRENTON, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey has ruled that a company charged with cleaning up groundwater contamination has asserted some valid claims against Pfizer Inc., which formerly disposed of hazardous material at a Superfund site, ruling that the allegations are sufficient to suggest “some connection” between Pfizer’s conduct and the purported contamination.
July 03, 2024
Calif. Federal Judge Enters $500K Judgment In Dispute Over Groundwater Pollution

SAN DIEGO — Following a notice of acceptance of an offer of judgment, a California federal judge entered a $500,000 judgment in favor of a property developer that said it encountered groundwater contamination near a development that allegedly originated from a nearby automobile salvage and dismantling facility.
June 28, 2024
High Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Changes Standard For Regulatory Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 voted 6-3 to overrule the doctrine of Chevron deference as incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations, changing governing precedent for federal courts reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions.
June 27, 2024
4th Circuit: Arranger Liability Under CERCLA Has No Knowledge Requirement

RICHMOND, Va. — In a matter of first impression for a federal appellate court, a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a party that arranges for the disposal of hazardous waste can be held liable as an “arranger” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) even if the party did not know that the waste contained hazardous substances.
June 27, 2024
Split Supreme Court Stays EPA Emissions Plan Pending Judicial Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27 granted four applications to stay a plan issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Air Act (CAA) that would establish an implementation plan for attaining ozone air quality standards for 23 states whose own plans were previously disapproved by the agency pending judicial review in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
June 26, 2024
Army Corps Of Engineers Did Not Err In Granting Permit For Warehouse Construction

SEATTLE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not err in granting a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit for the construction of a warehouse that require the filling of some nearby wetlands because the Corps properly performed the necessary cumulative and alternative analyses, a Washington federal judge found in granting summary judgment in favor of the Corps and the owner of the warehouse.
June 26, 2024
In Joint Stipulation, Parties Sink Oil Contamination Claims Arising From Shipwreck

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Oil pollution claims arising from the wreck of the M/V Golden Ray, a cargo ship carrying thousands of motor vehicles and hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel, have been resolved, according to a joint stipulation of dismissal filed in Georgia federal court by a group of nearby residents allegedly affected by the oil, the operators of the vessel and a company tasked with cleaning up the wreckage.
June 25, 2024
New York Panel Affirms, Says Gas Station Owners Are Liable For 2 Spills

ALBANY, N.Y. — A trial court did not err in finding that the owners of a gas station are liable for cleanup costs incurred by a New York state agency that investigated and cleaned two spills from the gas station because the owners failed to present a triable issue of fact regarding liability, a New York panel found in affirming the trial court’s partial summary judgment order.
June 25, 2024
Hawaii Youth Secure Climate Change Commitment From State Agency And Officials

HONOLULU — In a joint stipulation resolving climate change claims brought in Hawaii state court, a group of Hawaii youth on June 24 informed the court that they have reached a settlement with the Hawaii Department of Transportation and state officials that will see the agency develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the state.
June 24, 2024
Class Of California Children File Amended Climate Change Claims Against EPA

LOS ANGELES — Following the dismissal of their complaint for lack of redressability, a group of California minors filed an amended complaint in which they assert that they have been damaged by the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to prevent climate change and its discriminatory policies against children.
June 20, 2024
Landowner’s Flawed Reading Of Sackett Dooms Preliminary Injunction In CWA Row

RALEIGH, N.C. — A property owner is not entitled to a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing a new amended rule that extends the protection of the Clean Water Act (CWA) to certain wetlands because the owner failed to show that the rule was at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of protected wetlands in Sackett v. EPA, a North Carolina federal judge found in denying the owner’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
June 18, 2024
Missouri Federal Judge Says Retiring Power Plant Would Not Offset Past Emissions

ST. LOUIS — In response to simultaneous mitigation proposals submitted by the United States and an energy company that was found to have violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), a Missouri federal judge rejected the company’s idea that retiring its power plant early would offset its previous unlawful sulfur dioxide emissions.
June 18, 2024
Business Groups Seek Review Of Rule Listing 2 PFAS As Hazardous Substances

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America and two trade associations filed a petition for review of a final rule, promulgated by the Environmental Protection 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.
June 14, 2024
Wet-Weather Creek On Texas Ranch Is Not Protected By The Clean Water Act

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal magistrate judge entered final judgment in favor of a construction company that allegedly violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by allowing stormwater discharges to flow onto a nearby ranch because the ranch owner failed to show that the wet-weather creek on the property is protected by the CWA.
June 14, 2024
California Federal Judge Denies Motion To Transfer Defeat Devices RICO Case

SAN FRANCISCO — After examining the factors for transferring cases, a California federal judge declined to transfer claims brought against a car manufacturer and engine manufacturer that are alleged to have violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and California state law by installing defeat devices on a line of trucks to avoid state and federal emissions standards.
June 14, 2024
Hawaii Federal Judge Stays Fuel Release Claims Pending EPA Administrative Process

HONOLULU — Fuel contamination claims brought under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by an environmental group against the U.S. Navy for releases from an underground fuel storage facility should be stayed to the extent that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently working to resolve the contamination issues, a Hawaii federal judge found in partly granting the Navy’s motion to dismiss.
June 13, 2024
9th Circuit: NPDES Permits Applied To Entire Washington Port Facility

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the terms of two National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by Washington state applied to the entirety of a cargo terminal where stormwater discharges entered into Puget Sound.
June 12, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Enters $8 Million Settlement To Resolve CERCLA Claims

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge granted two oil companies’ joint motion for entry of an $8 million settlement agreement that resolves claims brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act by the current owner of an oil refinery where environmental contamination was discovered.
June 11, 2024
New Mexico Federal Judge Dismisses Final Member Case In Gold King Mine MDL

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In an order dismissing the Navajo Nation’s claims against a government contractor for its alleged involvement in the release of hazardous substances from the Gold King Mine that contaminated large portions of tribal land, a New Mexico federal judge announced that all cases in the multidistrict litigation covering the incident have been terminated or transferred.
June 11, 2024
Supreme Court Asks Solicitor General To File Brief In Climate Change Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 10 invited Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on the issue of whether the Hawaii Supreme Court erred by finding that claims arising from a group of oil companies’ alleged efforts to conceal the effects their fossil fuel products would have on global climate change were not preempted by federal law.
June 11, 2024
Environmental Contamination Coverage Suit Transferred From Alabama To Georgia

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An environmental contamination coverage suit filed by a number of insurers against their insured must be transferred to Georgia federal court because almost all of the events giving rise to the contamination at issue occurred in Georgia and the plaintiff insurers will not be inconvenienced by the transfer, an Alabama federal judge said in granting the insured’s motion to transfer to the suit to Georgia federal court.