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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

October 30, 2024
Environmental Groups Urge 6th Circuit To Vacate CWA Permit For Tenn. Pipeline

CINCINNATI — Two environmental groups are asking the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit that the Army Corps of Engineers granted for construction of a Tennessee natural gas pipeline, stating the agency’s attempts to assume the practicability of trenchless crossings, select the least environmentally damaging construction method and determine whether the project would contribute to water quality standards violations, among other tasks, were arbitrary, capricious and unlawful.
October 30, 2024
States, Private Groups Challenge New EPA Vehicle Emissions Rule In D.C. Circuit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — About two dozen states and a cluster of private groups filed a pair of petitions in consolidated litigation in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that challenge an Environmental Protection Agency rule that implements new greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles, claiming that the rule is an overreach of the agency’s authority and is arbitrary and capricious in its execution.
October 29, 2024
6th Circuit Grants Stay To Environmental Groups In Tennessee Pipeline Debate

CINCINNATI — Construction of a Tennessee natural gas pipeline is on pause after a split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel granted two environmental groups’ motions to stay under the Clean Water Act (CWA), stating that the groups demonstrated risks of considerable irreparable harm if the project advances.
October 25, 2024
Fuel Maker To Justices: EPA Admitted Calif. Emissions Waiver Will Impact Fuel Use

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney representing an ethanol manufacturer that is a petitioner in one of two U.S. Supreme Court cases seeking a ruling on whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to waive new Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for automobile emissions in California filed a letter arguing that a recent EPA proposal contradicts the agency’s claim that the waiver will have no effect on liquid fuel consumptions.
October 23, 2024
Terminal Operators Petition U.S. Supreme Court On Wash. Port Facility Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of marine cargo terminal operators are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 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).
October 22, 2024
Fracking Operator To Pay $9.4M To Settle Emissions Case Brought By EPA, New Mexico

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a $9.4 million settlement with a hydraulic fracturing operator to resolve violations of new federal standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) related to toxic emissions from crude oil and natural gas facilities and to settle claims brought under the state administrative code of New Mexico.
October 21, 2024
California Cities Appeal Denial Of Interim Attorney Fees In Clean Water Act Case

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two California cities are asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge’s decision not to reconsider interim attorney fees granted to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewage systems.
October 21, 2024
EPA’s Clean Air Act Venue Questions Will Be Considered By U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 21 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking the justices to consider whether a provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) grants the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals exclusive jurisdiction over petitions for judicial review of the EPA’s decisions to deny several small refineries’ requests for exemptions from the law’s Renewable Fuel Standard program.
October 21, 2024
Clean Air Act Jurisdiction Petitions By States, Companies Granted By High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions posed in two petitions for a writ of certiorari, one by Oklahoma and Utah and one by a power company and other companies and agencies, seeking a ruling on whether the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to disapprove state implementation plans for new air quality standards under the Clean Air Act (CAA) will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the court's Oct. 21 order list.
October 18, 2024
Smelting Facility Operator, U.S. Ink $5.25M Settlement For Clean Air Act Violations

SEATTLE — The owner of a now-shuttered aluminum smelting facility will pay the United States more than $5.25 million for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the emission of hazardous and other air pollutants pursuant to an amended settlement agreement approved by a federal judge in Washington.
October 18, 2024
Ariz., Others Waive Responses To High Court Petition Over NPDES Permit Decision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Arizona and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), along with Resolution Copper Mining LLC, waived their rights to respond to a petition for a writ of certiorari in which the San Carlos Apache Tribe asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review an Arizona Supreme Court decision that a copper mine shaft constructed in 2014 does not require a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
October 18, 2024
California Reaches $35M Settlement With Biotech Corporation Over PCB Pollution

LOS ANGELES — The state of California, through the Los Angeles city attorney and city of Los Angeles, has reached a $35 million settlement with an agricultural biotechnology and agrochemical corporation over the company’s alleged decades-long pollution of state waterways and stormwater and wastewater systems with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
October 17, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court: Stay Of Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions Rule Not Necessary

WASHINGTON, D.C — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 16 denied an emergency application filed by 25 states for an immediate stay of a rule that would impose new emissions standards on coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA), finding that the implementation of the rule won’t likely occur until after a decision by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is rendered.
October 17, 2024
High Court Hears Clean Water Act Arguments On Specific Limits, Generic Prohibitions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 16 heard oral arguments on a dispute over San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit in an appeal by the city asking the justices to decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) permits the Environmental Protection Agency or authorized states to impose general prohibitions rather than specific limits when it comes to water quality standards and permitted discharge.
October 11, 2024
Government Moves To Enter $311M Consent Decree In Ohio Train Derailment Case

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The U.S. government on Oct. 10 asked a federal court in Ohio to enter a proposed consent decree under which Norfolk Southern Corp. and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (collectively, Norfolk Southern) agree to pay $311,175,000 to settle claims related to the release of toxic chemicals from the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The payment includes a $15 million civil penalty, as well as money to improve rail safety and pay for health monitoring in the community.
October 11, 2024
Statute Of Limitations Bars Reimbursement To Company Over Environmental Harm

JOPLIN, Mo. — A federal magistrate judge in Missouri considering allocation of damages after a bench trial ruled that the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act statute of limitations foreclosed a development company’s attempt to recoup costs associated with remediating a former fertilizer plant that generated phosphogypsum and caused pollution and environmental harm.
October 10, 2024
9th Circuit Says EPA Did Not Err In Delaying Response To Nonprofits’ Petition

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “did not act arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law” in denying a group of environmental nonprofit organizations’ petition to revise regulations that govern concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and denied the group’s petition for judicial review.
October 10, 2024
Amici: Appeals Court Should Reinstate Florida’s Oversight Of Permitting Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Florida Chamber of Commerce and affiliated groups have filed an amicus curiae brief in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that it should reverse a lower court’s ruling and reinstate Florida’s oversight of a Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting program.
October 09, 2024
Utah Natural Gas, Oil Company To Pay Nearly $16M For Clean Air Act Violations

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah natural gas and oil production company has agreed to take corrective actions costing more than $10 million and pay $5.5 million in penalties to the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Utah for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for unlawful emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from storage vessels and associated vapor control systems the company operates across the state, according to a consent decree filed in a federal court in Utah.
October 09, 2024
Government Argues Man Failed To Show Error In His CAA, Bank Fraud Convictions

ST. LOUIS — The government responded to motions filed by a man convicted in a Missouri federal court for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and for bank fraud in connection to a scheme to obtain two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans, arguing that he failed to show that he is entitled to a new trial or an acquittal of certain charges.
October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Stay Of EPA’s Rule On Coal-Fired Power Plant Pollutants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 denied seven applications for a stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule on pollutants from coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam generating units; the applications were presented to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and by him referred to the court.
October 07, 2024
U.S. High Court Denies Stay Of EPA Methane Rule Sought By States, Energy Sector

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 issued a combined order denying two related applications to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. by some states and members of the energy sector asking the court to stay the 2024 methane rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
October 04, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees To Decide Nuclear Waste Storage Licensing Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 4 granted two petitions for certiorari and consolidated the cases to decide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s power to license private companies to store nuclear waste and what constitutes an “aggrieved party” under the Hobbs Act.
October 04, 2024
Judge: Wetlands Are Not Waters Of The United States Under The CWA, Case Fails

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida has issued a report recommending that summary judgment be granted to a farm and its owner sued by the U.S. government for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), finding that the “undisputed facts establish” that the wetlands on the defendants’ property are not under the jurisdiction of the CWA because they do not constitute “waters of the United States” (WOTUS).
October 02, 2024
Ohio Refinery To Pay $169M In Penalties, Upgrades For Clean Air Act Violations

TOLEDO, Ohio —The U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency have entered into a consent decree requiring an Ohio-based refining company to pay $19 million in penalties and implement about $150 million in plant upgrades over allegations that the company violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) with hazardous emissions of benzene, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and other air pollutants.