Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Latest UN Environment Report Describes a ‘Threatened Planet’
Oct 29 2007 // The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has released its latest detailed report, “Global Environment Outlook: environment for development (GEO-4),” which examines the state of the planet from a number of...
News Currents
Oct 27 2007 // Industry urged to watch for emerging benzene, lead, welding rod torts Large pool of litigants, scientific evidence, plaintiff’s attorneys all cause for concern Actuaries need to be on the look out for emerging mass...
For small truckers, exceed the minimum
Oct 27 2007 // The past few years have not been easy for the U.S. trucking industry. Rising fuel prices, threats of terrorism, new regulations and the daily challenges of simply moving heavy freight from point A to point B, have combined...
Lack of Funding Halts Buyout of Homes in Okla. Superfund Site
Oct 26 2007 // The panel in charge of a federally funded buyout of homes located within the Tar Creek Superfund Site in Oklahoma has stopped making offers to homeowners because of a lack of funding, an official said. The Lead-Impacted...
DuPont Ordered to Pay Nearly $200m in W. Va. Class-action Lawsuit
Oct 22 2007 // A West Virginia court convicted DuPont of wanton, willful and reckless conduct, and ordered the company to pay $196.2 million in punitive damages for its actions at a former zinc-smelting plant, where residents claimed the...
Actuaries Urged to Watch for Emerging Benzene, Lead, Welding Rod Torts
Oct 10 2007 // Actuaries need to be on the look out for emerging mass tort claims related to benzene, lead paint, and welding rods, despite the fact that significant legal hurdles in these cases remain. The large pool of potential...
N.C. Drought Spreads to 55 Counties, Gov. Calls for Collaboration
Oct 9 2007 // Federal drought maps show that exceptional drought has spread from North Carolina’s eight westernmost counties to 55 counties in the mountains and Piedmont and now stretches from the foothills and Charlotte to parts...
ACE Europe Strengthens Environmental Liability Unit
Oct 5 2007 // The ACE European Group announced that it has promoted Wayne Harrington to UK & Ireland Manager, Environmental Risk and Iain Harrison as Environmental Risk Underwriter, as part of its ongoing strategy to grow its...
Sloan Mason Offers Contractor’s Pollution Liability
Oct 3 2007 // Sloan Mason has a provision of competitive contractor’s pollution liability (CPL) for oilfield diving and sub-sea contractors of all types. The program is available nationwide. For full underwriting review and the...
Lead Leads to Lunchbox Recall in Calif.
Sep 26 2007 // California officials and a Los Angeles company were alerted last year that lunch boxes the firm imported from China contained high amounts of lead, an environmental group said. The state Department of Public Health warned...
Morgantown, W. Va. Gets Stormwater Loan, Could Reduce Flooding
Sep 17 2007 // A project in Monongalia County is the first to receive a stormwater infrastructure loan from the state’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund since the fund was created by the Legislature in 2001, the state Department of...
Burned WTC Area Skyscraper to be Sealed
Sep 14 2007 // Workers will seal a contaminated a New York City ground zero skyscraper damaged in a fatal fire at the same time new fire safety measures are adopted in the building, officials overseeing the building’s demolition...
Jurors Hear Opening Arguments in W. Va. Pollution Suit
Sep 14 2007 // DuPont’s lawyers say the company is a good corporate neighbor but lawyers for 10 West Virginia property owners suing the chemical giant claim it puts profits ahead of community safety. Jurors heard these dueling...
N.C. Bridge Sways, Gets Sufficiency Score of 2 Out of 100
Sep 13 2007 // The daily commute to a high school on Hatteras Island offered Dare County teacher Lisa Duke a gorgeous drive on a scenic highway with the ocean on one side and Pamlico Sound on the other. But the few hundred feet that lift...
Midwest Popcorn Makers Dropping Chemical Linked to Lung Disease
Sep 7 2007 // Four of the nation’s biggest microwave popcorn makers, including one in Iowa, are working to remove a flavoring chemical from their products linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers while reassuring...
ACE Expands Global Environment Coverage for US Multinationals
Aug 31 2007 // ACE USA announced from its Philadelphia headquarters that it has expanded its suite of environmental liability insurance products to meet “the unique exposures of U.S. multinational organizations with global...
Environmental Group Lists Data on 313 Minn. Bridges Online
Aug 31 2007 // Data on 313 Minnesota bridges can be found online, thanks to the work of an environmental group that compiled information from state and federal sources. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy organized the data...
ACE Expands Environmental Policy
Aug 31 2007 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operating division of the ACE Group of Companies, has expanded its suite of environmental liability insurance products to cover the exposures of U.S. multinational organizations with global...
Neighbors Worry About Toxins from Building Next to WTC Site
Aug 26 2007 // Panicked residents fear a partially dismantled building where a recent blaze killed two firefighters and stripped away protective coverings may be releasing some of the toxic contaminants that blanketed the neighborhood on...
Fire in Abandoned Skyscraper Kills Two
Aug 20 2007 // Health risks from asbestos and other toxic materials were questioned Sunday following the blaze that killed two firefighters in an abandoned skyscraper being dismantled next to the World Trade Center. Results from...
