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

Mealey's Pollution Liability

July 26, 2024
Seattle Announces It Has Reached $160M Settlement With Monsanto For PCB Releases

SEATTLE — Seattle announced in a July 25 press release that it has reached a $160 million settlement with chemical manufacturer Monsanto Co. for its alleged contamination of the city’s Lower Duwamish River with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
July 26, 2024
Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Arguments Over San Francisco’s NPDES Permit In October

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court announced in a July 26 docket entry that it will hear oral arguments on Oct. 16 on whether the Environmental Protection Agency failed to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA) by including two allegedly vague narrative prohibitions in San Francisco’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit.
July 26, 2024
Insurers Owe Duty To Defend Insured Against Contaminated Well Water Suit

BUTTE, Mont. — Insurers have a duty to defend an insured for an underlying third-party complaint alleging that the insured’s negligence in installing a water well contributed to injuries sustained by tenants who consumed the well water because the insuring agreement for the primary policy’s limited pollution coverage endorsement is ambiguous and cannot be construed as a bar to coverage, a Montana federal magistrate judge said in denying the insurers’ motion for summary judgment.
July 26, 2024
D.C. Circuit: EPA Has Authority To Regulate Biogas Producers Under The CAA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In denying a petition for review of an Environmental Protection Agency final rule that governs biogas used within the Renewable Fuel Program of the Clean Air Act (CAA) brought by a trade association, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that the EPA has authority to regulate producers of biogas under the statute.
July 25, 2024
Half The States Ask High Court To Stay Emissions Rule Pending Judicial Review

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an emergency application for an immediate stay of an EPA rule that would impose new emissions standards onto coal-fired power plants under the authority of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 25 states ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the rule pending judicial review in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 23, 2024
Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage For Gasoline Leak, Panel Says In Reversing

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s ruling entered against an insurer in a coverage dispute over damages caused by a gasoline leak because the policy’s pollution exclusion applies as a bar to coverage based on the conclusion that gasoline is a pollutant when it leaks from an underground storage tank and damages a neighboring property.
July 23, 2024
Alabama Federal Judge Denies Reconsideration Motion In Coal Residuals Plan Dispute

MOBILE, Ala. — An Alabama federal judge on July 22 denied a motion for reconsideration directed at a previous order holding that an environmental group does not have standing to challenge a power company’s coal combustion residuals (CCR) closure plan under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) because the group’s claims are not fairly traceable to the plan or redressable.
July 22, 2024
Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends $4M Default Judgment For Alleged Park Dumping

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — New York and its environmental agency are entitled to default judgment against 13 defendants who failed to respond to allegations that they dumped hazardous waste at a park in Suffolk County, N.Y., because the plaintiffs sufficiently stated their claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act as well as state law, a New York federal magistrate judge found in recommending that the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment be granted.
July 22, 2024
San Francisco Tells High Court Terms Of Its NPDES Permit Don’t Comply With CWA

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a merits brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on July 19, San Francisco argues that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA) by including two narrative prohibitions in the city’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) sewer system permit because the prohibitions impose conditions on the quality of receiving waters.
July 22, 2024
Illinois Federal Judge Dismisses Oil Spill Cleanup Claims Without Prejudice

CHICAGO — Claims of negligence and fraudulent misrepresentation brought by the operator of an oil-change business against a company that allegedly failed to clean up an oil spill at the business fail because the operator sought economic damages for the negligence claim and failed to plead its fraud claim with particularity, an Illinois federal judge found in granting the company’s motion to dismiss without prejudice.
July 19, 2024
EPA Has No Duty To Enforce Right-To-Repair Rule Against Nonroad Vehicle Makers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man is not entitled to mandamus relief against the Environmental Protection Agency for the agency’s failure to enforce a Clean Air Act (CAA) “right-to-repair” rule against the manufacturers of nonroad vehicles because the rule does not apply to such vehicles, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting the EPA’s motion to dismiss.
July 18, 2024
New Mexico Amends PFAS Case Against Government To Add Claim Under Superfund Law

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The state of New Mexico, which had previously sued the U.S. government related to contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the firefighting agent called aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), has amended its complaint to add claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act related to the costs associated with removal and remediation of the contamination.
July 17, 2024
EPA Order And Communications Did Not Create New RCRA Rule, D.C. Circuit Finds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency did not promulgate any new rules governing the storage of toxic coal residuals when it issued proposed orders, a final order, a press release and official communications that all related to a final rule the agency entered in 2015 and later amended, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in denying two petitions for review.
July 17, 2024
2 Elements Of RCRA Claim Are Not In Dispute, New Jersey Federal Judge Finds

TRENTON, N.J. — In a single memorandum opinion disposing of two motions for summary judgment, a New Jersey federal judge held that two environmental groups are entitled to summary judgment on two elements of their Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claim arising from the storage and discharge of hazardous substances at a titanium dioxide plant because the parties no longer dispute those issue.
July 16, 2024
Petitioners Ask High Court Whether California Can Set Its Own Emissions Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two separate petitions for writs of certiorari, a group of private parties representing the liquid fuel industry and a group of 17 states ask the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to waive new Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for automobile emissions as they apply to California.
July 16, 2024
Stay Lifted After 7th Circuit Denies Insurers’ Petition In Environmental Suit

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Following the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ denial of a petition for permission to file an interlocutory appeal in an environmental contamination coverage suit, an Illinois federal judge lifted a stay of the suit that was entered while the insurers’ petition for permission to file an interlocutory appeal was pending.
July 15, 2024
Marathon Will Pay ‘Largest Ever’ Civil Penalty For Stationary CAA Violations

BISMARCK, N.D. — Under the terms of a proposed consent decree filed by the United States in North Dakota federal court, Marathon Oil Co. has agreed to pay a $64.5 million civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Air Act (CAA) violations arising from its oil and natural gas operations within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
July 11, 2024
Environmental Groups, Florida Agency Settle Claims Arising From Tampa Bay Discharges

TAMPA, Fla. — In Florida federal court, a group of environmental organizations and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) announced a settlement to resolve Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) claims brought against the agency for its alleged involvement in the release of wastewater into Tampa Bay from a phosphate facility.
July 11, 2024
West Virginia Federal Judge Dismisses Coal Mining Pollution Suit Without Prejudice

HUNGTINGTON, W.Va. — In light of a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision and various communications from the parties, a West Virginia federal judge dismissed without prejudice a case brought by two property owners who sought compensation for pollution of their property allegedly caused by a state official and the former operators of a coal mine.
July 10, 2024
Tribes Can Appeal Issue Of CERCLA Cultural Resource Damages To 9th Circuit

SPOKANE, Wash. — A substantial ground for difference of opinion exists on whether the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are entitled to cultural resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act caused by a smelter’s alleged disposal of millions of tons of toxic slag and liquid effluent into the Columbia River, a Washington federal judge found July 9 in granting the tribes’ motion for interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 09, 2024
Maine Was Not Obligated To Consider Dam Application, D.C. Circuit Panel Finds

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Maine was not obligated to consider an application for a water quality certification sought by the operator of a hydroelectric dam because the operator materially changed the substance of its application just weeks before the state’s deadline to make a decision, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in denying the operator’s petition for review.
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.