Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Top 10 States for Extreme Weather Crop Insurance Payouts
Aug 27 2013 // Extreme weather forced the federal crop insurance program to pay out a record-breaking $17.3 billion in crop losses last year, much of which could have been prevented using water-smart strategies, according to the Natural...
West Virginia Report Says Fracking No Threat to Air Quality
Aug 22 2013 // A state study says no new rules are needed to protect West Virginia’s air quality from natural gas drilling. State lawmakers were presented with the study’s results during an interim committee meeting this...
Fukushima Plant Springs Another Leak in Battle with Radioactive Water
Aug 20 2013 // Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported another breach of the defenses it has built at the Fukushima nuclear plant in its more than two-year struggle to stop leaks of radioactive water into the soil and sea. Just weeks after the...
Electronics Firm AVX Appeals South Carolina $750K Pollution Verdict
Aug 20 2013 // Electronics manufacturer AVX Corp. is appealing a $750,000 verdict in a pollution lawsuit. A state jury awarded the damages earlier this month to a Myrtle Beach developer who sued AVX saying groundwater pollution by the...
Iran Detains Tanker Carrying Iraqi Crude Oil to India
Aug 15 2013 // An Indian ship carrying Iraqi crude has been detained by Iran in its territorial waters due to pollution concerns, the head of the refiner buying the oil and India’s shipping directorate said on Thursday. The Desh...
Report: Climate Change Is Impacting California
Aug 9 2013 // Coastal waters off California are getting more acidic. Fall-run chinook salmon populations to the Sacramento River are on the decline. Conifer forests on the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada have moved to higher...
Zurich’s Environmental Site Business Enhances Z Choice Policy
Aug 8 2013 // Zurich has revised its Z Choice fixed facility environmental liability suite of products to include built in coverage features such as emergency expenses and crisis management. The new form provides for increased usability...
New Zealand’s ‘100 Percent Pure’ Image Questioned after Dairy Scare
Aug 6 2013 // For a country that markets itself to the world with the slogan “100 percent Pure”, New Zealand’s environmental credentials are not as impeccable as many would think. The majority of its rivers are too...
Declarations
Aug 5 2013 // Agency-Carrier Relationship “We can surmise that the firming market impacted the agency-carrier relationship over the past several years.” —Rick Russell, CEO of Insurance Agents & Brokers (IA&B), a...
Senate Bill on Chemical Safety Runs Into Roadbloack
Aug 1 2013 // A bipartisan measure on federal toxic chemical standards would undercut state efforts, the head of a Senate committee said in comments that may imperil a compromise to overhaul U.S. consumer-safety regulations. Senator...
Catlin Launches Next Seaview Survey for Caribbean, Bermuda Coral Reefs
Jul 31 2013 // Catlin Group Limited announced the launch of its next “Seaview Survey,” which it described as a “significant expansion of its study of coral reefs with a new campaign in the Caribbean and Bermuda.”...
Fracking Tied to Drinking Water Damage by EPA Regional Official
Jul 31 2013 // Gas drilling caused “significant damage” to drinking-water aquifers in a Pennsylvania town at the center of a fight over the safety of hydraulic fracturing, according to a report prepared by a federal...
Crop Insurance, High Crop Prices Leading to Eco-Catastrophe: Environmental Group
Jul 31 2013 // Sustained high prices for corn, soybeans and wheat combined with record U.S. crop-insurance payouts are encouraging farmers to plow fragile lands and put ecosystems at risk, an environmental advocacy group said. Northern...
Hartford’s Q2 Loss Widens to $190M; P/C Earnings Show Improvement
Jul 30 2013 // The Hartford Financial Services Group reported a net loss of $190 million for the 2013 second quarter. The quarterly loss widened compared to the same time a year ago, when the insurer reported a net loss of $101...
Michigan Brewery Sues Over Oil Spill Cleanup Dredging Plan
Jul 25 2013 // A brewery in Michigan has sued over a plan for dredging sediments as part of the cleanup from the Kalamazoo River oil spill three years ago. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports Bell’s Brewery has sued Enbridge Inc. and the...
Synapse Services, LIU Launch Remediation Professional Policy in New Jersey
Jul 22 2013 // Synapse Services, LLC., a nationwide wholesale environmental insurance firm, has launched a new insurance policy that provides individual liability coverage for Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs) in New...
Wyoming Governor Lambasts EPA Over Haze Plan
Jul 19 2013 // Gov. Matt Mead sharply criticized a plan by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce regional haze, saying it did more to kill the coal industry than clear Wyoming’s air. The EPA plan seeks to reduce haze...
Obama Administration Under Fire for Delay on Chemical Plant Safety
Jul 16 2013 // The Obama administration’s lack of action to impose recommended changes to make refineries, chemical factories and sugar plants safer is set to get a public rebuke from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. The independent...
ACE Construction Practice Launches Healthcare Construction Project Services
Jul 9 2013 // ACE USA has launched new capabilities specifically designed for healthcare industry construction projects through ESIS, Inc., a risk management services company owned by the ACE Group. The new offerings include...
Florida Consortium Reaches Deal on Use of Oil Spill Payments
Jul 3 2013 // Gov. Rick Scott and the Gulf Consortium – a group comprising 23 Gulf Coast counties – have reached a deal for using recovery funds related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the governor’s office...
