Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Judge Declines to Dismiss Emissions Suit Against ExxonMobil
May 6 2013 // A federal judge has declined to throw out a 2010 environmental lawsuit against ExxonMobil Corp. over emissions from its Baytown oil refinery. U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston adopted a magistrate’s April...
Tool Identifies California’s Most Polluted Cities
May 6 2013 // Seven of California’s 10 ZIP codes most burdened by pollution are in the San Joaquin Valley and three are in Los Angeles, according to a new tool developed by state environmental officials to target communities for...
Senate Panel to Investigate Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion
May 1 2013 // U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said on Tuesday she plans to investigate the explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant earlier this month that killed 15 people and injured scores more. California’s Boxer, the head of the...
Tainted Illinois Well Water Case Ends in Guilty Verdict
Apr 30 2013 // After a former suburban Chicago water official was convicted on April 29 for lying about secretly mixing carcinogen-tainted well water into the village’s drinking supply, the sense of bitterness and betrayal among...
Tool Identifies California’s Most Polluted Cities
Apr 24 2013 // Seven of California’s 10 ZIP codes most burdened by pollution are in the San Joaquin Valley and three are in Los Angeles, according to a new tool developed by state environmental officials to target communities for...
Texas Governor: State Oversight Not to Blame for West Blast
Apr 24 2013 // Gov. Rick Perry said that spending more state money on inspections would not have prevented the deadly explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant that was last investigated by Texas environmental regulators in 2006. Perry...
Safety Rules Limited for Small Fertilizer Plants
Apr 23 2013 // There were no sprinklers. No firewalls. No water deluge systems. Safety inspections were rare at the fertilizer company in West, Texas, that exploded and killed at least 14 people this week. This is not unusual. Small...
EPA Blamed For Delays in Asbestos Study In Montana
Apr 21 2013 // Internal investigators are faulting the Environmental Protection Agency for years of delays in completing health studies needed to guide the cleanup of a Montana mining town where hundreds of people have died from asbestos...
What Did Regulators Know Before Texas Plant Exploded?
Apr 19 2013 // Despite being located within a short walk of a nursing home, school and residential buildings, West Fertilizer Co. in central Texas had no blast walls and had filed no contingency plan to the Environmental Protection...
Report: California Lags in Fracking Regulations
Apr 12 2013 // A new report on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in California warns there are risks of irreversible contamination of surface and groundwater near oil drilling sites unless the technique is carefully monitored...
New Hampshire Jury Finds Exxon Mobil Liable for $236.4M in U.S. Pollution Suit
Apr 9 2013 // A New Hampshire jury on Tuesday found Exxon Mobil Corp liable for $236.4 million in a civil lawsuit that charged the oil company had polluted groundwater in the state with a gasoline additive used to reduce smog in the...
Tyson Agrees to $4M Penalty to Resolve EPA Case
Apr 8 2013 // Tyson Foods Inc. will pay roughly $4 million in civil penalties to settle allegations related to eight accidental anhydrous ammonia releases in Midwest states that caused multiple injuries and one death over four years,...
14 Keys to Insuring Water-Related Entities
Apr 4 2013 // Water is a precious natural resource entrusted to water entities across the country. These entities include public and private water companies, irrigation companies, conservation districts and more. They face many...
ACE Launches Borderless International Pollution Liability Coverage
Mar 26 2013 // ACE USA, the U.S.-based retail operations of the ACE Group, has introduced a foreign casualty pollution liability coverage endorsement. This new endorsement provides a limited pollution coverage extension in conjunction...
How Red Bull Handled Product Tampering Threat Could Pay Off
Mar 22 2013 // Austrian company Red Bull’s unusual decision to go public on a blackmailer’s threat to contaminate its energy drinks with feces could cost the brand far less long-term than any immediate hit to sales. Known for...
Michigan Oil Spill Cleanup Costs to Exceed Insurance: Enbridge
Mar 21 2013 // Enbridge Energy Partners LP said on Wednesday that the costs of additional cleanup from a huge Michigan oil spill three years ago may push the total bill past the limit of its insurance coverage, hampering its financial...
New York’s Fracking Health Study Results Likely Years Off
Mar 11 2013 // A health study cited by leading environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as pivotal in helping persuade Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold off on plans for limited gas drilling is likely years away from conclusions about whether the...
Xcel Settlement Offers $447,000 in Colorado
Mar 11 2013 // Xcel Energy Inc. is providing $447,000 for environmental projects in north Denver to resolve a lawsuit alleging clean air violations. The lawsuit by WildEarth Guardians alleged Xcel failed to monitor and limit emissions at...
Japan’s Clean-Up from 2011 Tsunami, Nuclear Accident Lagging
Mar 11 2013 // Two years after the triple calamities of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster ravaged Japan’s northeastern Pacific coast, debris containing asbestos, lead, PCBs — and perhaps most worrying — radioactive waste...
14 Keys to Insuring Water-Related Entities
Mar 11 2013 // Water is a precious natural resource entrusted to water entities across the country. These entities include public and private water companies, irrigation companies, conservation districts and more. They face many...
