Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Court Rules BP Not Covered by Transocean’s $750M Insurance
Feb 17 2015 // BP Plc isn’t covered under Transocean Ltd.’s insurance policies for the undersea well blowout that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the Texas Supreme Court said, blocking the oil company’s access...
Ex-Owner of West Virginia Chemical Co. Responsible for Spill Requests Trial Delay
Feb 6 2015 // The former owner of a chemical company that fouled drinking water used by hundreds of thousands of West Virginia residents wants his trial delayed. Attorneys for Charles Herzing cite the heft of documents they must review...
Regulators Determining Fines for Duke After Coal Ash Spill in North Carolina
Feb 4 2015 // A year after the sudden collapse of an old drainage pipe triggered the third largest coal ash spill in U.S. history, regulators say they are still working to determine how much to fine the nation’s largest...
BP Witness Praises Oil Spill Response at Fines Trial
Jan 27 2015 // BP Plc “conducted an extraordinarily effective response” to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, the company’s first witness testified Monday as the oil producer sought to minimize potential pollution fines. BP...
Montana Smelting Company Says Atlantic Richfield Concealed Pollution
Jan 26 2015 // American Smelting and Refining Co. said in a Montana lawsuit filed earlier this month that Atlantic Richfield Co. concealed pollution-related documents during the sale of Atlantic Richfield’s zinc fuming plant to...
New Charge Filed for Ex-President of Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill
Jan 26 2015 // A former Freedom Industries executive charged in a West Virginia chemical spill is facing a new federal fraud charge stemming from the company’s bankruptcy. A federal grand jury in Beckley handed up a superseding...
BP Argues for Lower Oil Spill Penalty
Jan 21 2015 // Last week’s ruling that BP Plc’s Macondo well dumped less oil into the Gulf of Mexico than the U.S. government claimed may trigger a settlement before a decision on the amount it must pay after a trial set to...
3 Executives Charged in West Virginia Chemical Spill Plead Not Guilty
Jan 14 2015 // Three executives charged in last January’s West Virginia chemical spill have pleaded not guilty in federal court. The pleas came a day after an FBI affidavit was unsealed, saying Freedom Industries knew about...
Tennessee Environmental Agency Sues TVA Over Coal Ash at Gallatin Plant
Jan 14 2015 // The Tennessee state agency charged with protecting the environment is suing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) over its coal-burning power plant in Gallatin. The lawsuit, filed January 7 by the Tennessee Dept. of...
No Contamination Detected after Ohio Refinery Explosion
Jan 13 2015 // No dangerous contaminants were released into the air by an explosion at an oil refinery that was felt 10 miles away and sparked a fire that burned for more than 14 hours, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency...
Report: West Virginia Chemical Spill Company Aware of Defects
Jan 12 2015 // A West Virginia attorney general report says the company behind last January’s chemical spill knew of its facility’s defects for years. The report by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey office says that a 2010...
West Virginia Chemical Spill Posed Inhalation Risk: Study
Jan 9 2015 // Federal health officials overlooked risks of inhaling the licorice-scented fumes of a chemical that spilled into West Virginia’s biggest water supply last January, according to a study. The research by a Purdue...
Environmental Groups Sue EPA to Force Fracking Chemicals Disclosure
Jan 8 2015 // A coalition of advocacy groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for public access to information on toxic chemicals released by the energy industry through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and other forms of...
Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Enters Environmental Segment
Jan 7 2015 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) is expanding its U.S. casualty underwriting capabilities to include pollution exposures and has named Chuck Hasselback to head its environmental group. According to Meredith...
U.S. Insurers Still Funding Asbestos, Environmental Liabilities: A.M. Best
Jan 5 2015 // The current estimate of net asbestos losses for the U.S. property/casualty industry remains at $85 billion, with net environmental losses estimated at $42 billion, according to a new Best’s Special Report. According...
U.S. Seeks Up to $18B in Fines From BP Over Gulf Oil Spill
Dec 22 2014 // The government wants BP Plc to pay $16 billion to $18 billion in water-pollution fines for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history while seeking more than $1 billion from the co-owner of the blown-out well that caused...
Executives in West Virginia Chemical Spill Facing Criminal Charges
Dec 19 2014 // When state inspectors arrived at Freedom Industries asking about a licorice smell enveloping West Virginia’s capital city, the point person at the tank farm, Dennis P. Farrell, told them he knew nothing about a...
Insurer Philadelphia Cos. Counts Carbon Footprint
Dec 18 2014 // It’s no secret that many property/casualty insurers are tackling climate change on the back end through more sophisticated catastrophe modeling, calls for more resilient communities and pricing. But it seems to be a...
New York Will Move to Prohibit Fracking
Dec 18 2014 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration will move to prevent fracking in the state, citing unresolved health issues and dubious economic benefits of the widely used gas-drilling technique. New York Environmental...
OneBeacon Launches Environmental Website for Producers, Clients
Dec 18 2014 // OneBeacon Environmental, a member of Hamilton, Bermuda-based OneBeacon Insurance Group Ltd., has launched a new website, www.onebeaconenvironmental.com, featuring overviews of product lines, classes of business, and...
