Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Federal Auto Safety Regulator Strickland to Exit
Dec 13 2013 // The top U.S. auto-safety regulator will step down, as his agency investigates fires in Tesla Motors Inc. electric cars and is behind schedule on implementing a rule requiring backup cameras in new cars. U.S. National...
Anadarko, Kerr-McGee Liable for Pollution Costs of Spun-Off Paint Unit Tronox
Dec 12 2013 // Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and its Kerr-McGee unit acted with “intent to hinder” when they spun off Tronox, the paint materials company that later went bankrupt, and should pay billions of dollars in...
Anadarko, BP Seek Reversal of Oil Spill Clean Water Act Ruling
Dec 5 2013 // Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and BP Plc asked an appeals court to throw out a judge’s finding that both companies were liable under the U.S. Clean Water Act for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. U.S. District Judge Carl...
Flood of Regulations Coming from Obama Administration
Dec 5 2013 // Over the next 12 months, the Obama administration is due to issue regulations governing everything from e-cigarettes to smoke-stack emissions in what experts predict will be a second-term rush to put rules in place before...
Left and Right Are Both Wrong About Regulation: Viewpoint
Dec 5 2013 // In 1981, President Ronald Reagan instructed federal agencies that they could issue regulations only after demonstrating that their benefits justified their costs. With modest changes, Reagan’s successors, both...
10 Things to Know About Pollution Liability
Dec 2 2013 // In 2013, pollution liability news included: a $500 million cleanup plan for N.Y.’s Gowanus Canal; a $47 million cleanup plan for the Ringwood, N.J., Superfund site; a $113 million suit alleging toxicity at the...
Insurers’ Asbestos, Environmental Losses Rose 12% in 2012
Nov 18 2013 // While generally not a material drag on the U.S. property/casualty industry’s earnings, industry losses from asbestos and environmental (A&E) claims resumed an upward climb in 2012, according to a new A.M. Best...
Nevada Mine Pollution Deal Brings Residents $19.5M
Nov 18 2013 // Rural neighbors of an abandoned World War II-era copper mine that has leaked toxic chemicals in northern Nevada for decades have won up to a $19.5 million settlement from companies they accused of covering up the...
Nevada Mine Pollution Deal Brings Residents $19.5M
Nov 8 2013 // Rural neighbors of an abandoned World War II-era copper mine that has leaked toxic chemicals in northern Nevada for decades have won up to a $19.5 million settlement from companies they accused of covering up the...
Insurers’ Annual Incurred A&E Losses Rose 12% in 2012: A.M. Best
Nov 6 2013 // While generally not a material drag on the U.S. property/casualty industry’s earnings, industry losses from asbestos and environmental (A&E) claims resumed an upward climb in 2012, according to a new A.M. Best...
Hubbard Joins Towerstone to Lead New Environmental Practice
Nov 6 2013 // Wholesale insurance broker and managing general agency, Towerstone, announced that Jeffrey Hubbard has joined the company as director of its new environmental practice in Dallas. Hubbard brings more than 20 years of...
Lost Pheasants, Disappearing Grasslands: Is Crop Insurance to Blame?
Nov 1 2013 // The hunters tramp through neck-high prairie grass with a pair of golden retrievers named Moe and Buck, flushing out birds in a freezing autumn drizzle. When one flutters from the South Dakota grassland, Dick Schmith, 58,...
Oklahoma City Firm to Receive $113M Insurance Payment from Blast
Oct 28 2013 // Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries Inc. will get a $113 million insurance payment after a May 2012 explosion damaged one of its chemical plants in south Arkansas. No one was injured in the blast at the El Dorado Chemical...
Verisk Climate, HSB Launch Service to Assess Electrical Blackout Risk
Oct 24 2013 // Verisk Climate and The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (HSB) have introduced new technology and consulting services that help insurers and businesses predict the likelihood, severity, and financial...
Settlement Reached in Vermont Asbestos Mine Cleanup
Oct 21 2013 // A settlement has been reached with the owner of a former asbestos mine in northern Vermont to help cover the costs of some pollution controls. Vermont Asbestos Group also has agreed to pursue $3.5 million in insurance...
The Robots Are Coming!
Oct 21 2013 // Robots of the future could improve business efficiencies, but companies must implement risk management beyond legal requirements to minimize accidents and damage to their reputation. In recent years, robotics applications...
XL Group’s Insurance Operations Grow in Dallas
Oct 17 2013 // XL Group announced an expansion of its insurance operations in Dallas. The company’s U.S. Risk Management business is setting up operations in Dallas and welcoming Gabriel Martinez as casualty underwriting director....
AIG Launches Product Recall Estimate Service, Raises Contaminated Product Limits
Oct 16 2013 // In response to the growing financial impact and frequency of product recalls for food and beverage manufacturers, distributors and importers in the U.S. and Europe, American International Group (AIG) today launched NOVI, a...
Icebergs, Insurance Hamper Top of the World Shipping Route
Oct 16 2013 // The new shipping route opened up through the Arctic by climate change will not be crowded any time soon. Cargoes of coal, diesel and gas have made the trip but high insurance costs, slow going and strict environmental...
Feds Seek Stay in Lawsuit over Exxon Arkansas Oil Spill
Oct 11 2013 // Federal prosecutors in Arkansas asked a judge to stay proceedings in their lawsuit against ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. because of the federal government shutdown. The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Chris...
