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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

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.
October 02, 2024
Governments, Fracking Operator Reach $15.5M Deal Resolving Toxic Emissions Lawsuit

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it reached a settlement valued at $15.5 million to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) at oil and gas production facilities of a fracking operator on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.
October 02, 2024
Judge Tosses EPA Suit Against EBay Over CAA Violations, Cites ‘Sell’ Definition

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that eBay Inc. is in violation of federal environmental laws by selling motor vehicle parts and accessories, pesticides and paint remover products that run afoul of pollution standards and are toxic, finding, in part, that actions by eBay do not comprise an offer to sell because eBay did not actually possess any of the items for sale.
October 02, 2024
States: Supreme Court Stay Of Methane Rule Needed To Avoid ‘Irreparable Harm’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of states has filed a reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their application for a stay of the 2024 Methane Rule instituted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that “absent a stay, EPA’s gambit to force the States to submit to EPA’s ‘presumptive standards’ will impose irreparable harm upon the States.”
October 01, 2024
Certification For Appeal Of Interim Attorney Fees Denied In Clean Water Act Case

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California in a docket entry denied a request by two cities for reconsideration of interim attorney fees and for certification of the fee order as final but stayed until October enforcement of the order that granted fees to an environmental organization that sued the cities under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for discharging bacteria pollution from stormwater sewer systems.
September 25, 2024
Norfolk Southern: Investors Attempt To ‘Concoct’ Securities Case From Train Crash

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern Corp. and its principals filed a reply brief in Georgia federal court arguing that it should dismiss a securities fraud class action filed against them related to the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on grounds that the plaintiffs “attempt to concoct securities fraud claims” out of the crash and the stock price declines that followed it.
September 24, 2024
California, Environmental Groups Sue Exxon For Single-Use Plastics Pollution

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Attorney General’s Office and environmental groups on Sept. 23 separately filed complaints against Exxon Mobil Corp., accusing it of creating a public nuisance and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by manufacturing single-use plastics that it misrepresented as recyclable while earning billions dollars from sales of plastic products per year.
September 23, 2024
River Protection Group Sues For CWA Violations At Wastewater Treatment Plants

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A nonprofit corporation that works to protect the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries and watershed, including Walter F. George Lake, has filed a civil action against a city in Alabama, alleging that the city’s wastewater treatment plant continually violates the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging of various pollutants into the river.
September 23, 2024
EPA, Minnesota Company Reach Settlement Over Clean Air Act Violations

CHICAGO — Federal Cartridge Co., a Minnesota company that melts and processes lead to manufacture ammunition, has agreed to pay $349,471 in penalties and reduce air emissions by more than 1,700 pounds of particulate matter per year and more than 400 pounds of lead per year in a settlement reached with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
September 20, 2024
9th Circuit: Permit Issued After Faulty Fireworks Show Extinguishes CWA Case

PASADENA, Calif. — A restaurant accused of allowing a “low break” firework to fall into the Alamitos Bay during a Fourth of July celebration received a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for future events, which a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found mooted an appeal filed by a environmental group alleging violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
September 18, 2024
California Federal Judge Rejects Motion For New Trial In Clean Water Act Dispute

SANTA ANA , Calif. — A California federal judge held that while a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision “changed the prevailing law regarding what constitutes ” a water of the United States (WOTUS), the ruling does not warrant a new trial for a recycling company that was found to have violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) 12,541 times.
September 18, 2024
EPA Tells U.S. Supreme Court Petitioner’s CWA Permit Argument Is Without Merit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a response brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a dispute over narrative prohibitions in San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit, contending that San Francisco’s categorical argument that the Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes only limitations that fall within the statutory definition of “effluent limitation” are without merit.
September 18, 2024
Court: Commitment To Monitor Nitrogen Pollution Not ‘Rule’ Under Washington Law

OLYMPIA, Wash. — A commitment from the Washington Department of Ecology in a denial letter to an environmental group to monitor sources of human-introduced nitrogen in Puget Sound is not a “rule” under the Washington Administrative Procedure Act (APA), an en banc Washington Supreme Court found, reversing an appellate court.
September 16, 2024
Group Appeals Dismissal Of CWA Violation Suit Against Buddhist Compound

NEW YORK — An environmental group on Sept. 13 notified a New York federal court that it is appealing to the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the dismissal of its case accusing Dragon Springs Buddhist Inc. of polluting the water around its 393-acre compound.