Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Kentucky Business Owner Gets Jail Time for Environmental Violations
Dec 22 2016 // A western Kentucky business owner will serve 90 days in jail for committing environmental violations during the demolition of the former Goodyear Tire plant in Madisonville. A release from the U.S. Attorney’s office...
California Attorney General Sues Feds in Offshore Fracking Challenge
Dec 21 2016 // Attorney General Kamala Harris and the California Coastal Commission has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s recent finding that fracking off the state’s coast has no significant environmental...
New Hampshire Town Seeks Municipal Water from City after Coakley Rejection
Dec 21 2016 // Officials and residents in the New Hampshire town of Greenland are urging Portsmouth’s City Council to support running municipal water to homeowners whose wells are vulnerable to contamination from a Superfund...
VW Claims Costs in U.S. for Emissions Scam Top $17 Billion with More to Come
Dec 21 2016 // Volkswagen AG has agreed to a $1 billion settlement to fix or buy back another 80,000 polluting diesel vehicles sold in the United States as the German automaker on Tuesday took new steps to put its emissions cheating...
Wyoming Refiner Pays $655K for Asbestos Cleanup
Dec 20 2016 // Sinclair Casper Refining Co. has paid $655,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency for cleaning up asbestos at an oil refinery in the town of Thermopolis, Wyo. The Casper Star-Tribune reported the agency determined...
Corpus Christi Chemical Leak Reported Week Before Public Warned
Dec 19 2016 // A chemical leak from an asphalt plant that led Corpus Christi officials to warn its 300,000 residents not to drink the water last week was apparently reported a week earlier, according to an email from a state...
Vermont to Study Environmental Risks of Proposed Rail Tunnel
Dec 19 2016 // Vermont transportation officials have decided to pursue a more detailed environmental study of a proposed $40 million rail tunnel project in Middlebury, which could delay construction by at least a year. The project calls...
South Carolina Environmental Groups Say Seawalls Harming Turtles
Dec 14 2016 // South Carolina’s environmental protection agency is taking steps to ban experimental plastic seawalls once touted as a way to protect oceanfront property without erosion. The State newspaper reports that the...
Marsh, Endurance Launch Habitational Casualty Program
Dec 13 2016 // Marsh has launched a new and proprietary casualty insurance program designed offering accessible coverage for multifamily property owners and managers experiencing challenging habitational insurance market...
Dual Commercial Adds Nesterenko and Lynch in California
Dec 12 2016 // DUAL Commercial has named Melanie Nesterenko and Brian Lynch to their environmental team. Nesterenko and Lynch, both senior underwriters, will be based in San Francisco, Calif. Nesterenko has more than 25 years of...
$160M Claim Filed by Navajo Nation Over Mine Spill
Dec 7 2016 // The Navajo Nation has submitted a claim of more than $160 million in damages to the federal government over last year’s mine waste spill that fouled rivers in three western states. A cleanup team led by the U.S....
Cleanup Costs of Oregon Train Derailment Along River Pilling Up
Dec 6 2016 // Six months after a train hauling Bakken crude oil derailed along the Columbia River Gorge, Washington, Oregon and other officials are still tabulating a bill to send to Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific said in a...
Great American Insurance Taps Vuono to Lead Environmental Division
Dec 5 2016 // Property/casualty insurer, Great American Insurance Group, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, has promoted Mark Vuono to divisional president of its Environmental Division. Vuono joined Great American in 2007 as divisional senior...
Oklahoma Companies Blame City for Groundwater Pollution
Nov 30 2016 // Two companies that operated a now closed aerospace plant argue that groundwater pollutants threatening to contaminate the city of Bethany’s municipal water supply are a result of the city’s 67-year-old clay...
Asbestos Losses Continue to Haunt P/C Insurers: A.M. Best
Nov 29 2016 // Net ultimate asbestos losses for the U.S. property/casualty industry have risen once again. They’re now at $100 billion, and that’s $15 billion higher than the previous estimate, according to a new A.M. Best...
Study: Injection Wells, Agriculture Harming Bays in Maui
Nov 28 2016 // A team of University of Hawaii scientists has completed a study of nearshore ecosystems across Maui that shows the impact of discharged treated wastewater. The findings were published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE...
BNSF in Washington to Examine Covering Coal Trains Under Agreement
Nov 23 2016 // BNSF Railway will study the use of physical covers for coal and petroleum coke trains as part of a tentative agreement reached this week with environmental groups that sued alleging that coal spilled from trains pollutes...
People
Nov 21 2016 // Western Growers Insurance Services Inc. has named Ken Cooper director of risk strategy. Western Growers also named Matt Luis as a sales executive. Cooper will spearhead the development of solutions for Western...
West Virginia Regulator Sues Alpha Natural on Fraud Allegations
Nov 18 2016 // West Virginia’s environmental regulator sued Alpha Natural Resources Inc’s former management on allegations of fraud on Wednesday, saying top executives should be held accountable for an unusual $100 million...
Zurich’s Sustainable U.S. Campus Is One Part of Its Green Ambitions
Nov 17 2016 // The voice of Zurich North America Chief Legal Officer Dennis Kerrigan swelled with pride as he described the carrier’s new headquarters in Schaumburg, Ill., and its importance to Zurich’s overall philosophy...
