Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
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Jan 11 2009 // Markel Corp. has promoted Henry Lopez to executive vice president for the Markel Midwest region. Lopez has been with Markel since 1995 and most recently was the vice president, director of business development for...
Zurich N.A. Names Dunai to Lead Environmental Unit
Jan 8 2009 // Zurich North America appointed Julie Dunai as head of its Environmental unit. In this role, Dunai will oversee all aspects of the unit’s operations, which deliver insurance solutions addressing professional liability...
California Appeals Court Reverses Pollution Liability Decision
Jan 7 2009 // The 4th District of the California Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court decision in a pollution liability case, State of California v. Continental Insurance Co. et al. Policyholders are entitled to the full policy...
AIG’s Boren, O’Brien to Head New Ironshore Environmental Insurance Unit
Jan 6 2009 // Bermuda-based Ironshore Inc. announced that Joe Boren and John O’Brien have joined as CEO and president, respectively, of its newly established Environmental Insurance facility. The company said the new unit will...
Johnston Named CEO of AIG Environmental; Hanna Named COO
Jan 6 2009 // AIG has named Russell Johnston as president and CEO of AIG Environmental, a unit of AIG Commercial Insurance. Johnston assumes management responsibility for AIG Environmental from Joseph Boren, who has left the company to...
Illinois Attorney General Settles with Hotel Owner in Asbestos Removal Case
Jan 5 2009 // The owner of a now-demolished southern Illinois hotel has agreed to pay $30,000 as part of a settlement with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan over asbestos that she says was improperly removed. The Illinois...
Rates Fall for Mine Subsidence Insurance in Pennsylvania
Dec 31 2008 // Staring tomorrow, homeowners and commercial building owners in Pennsylvania can take advantage of substantially lower rates for mine subsidence insurance, making it more affordable to protect against catastrophic damage...
Colorado Indicts Man in Asbestos Case
Dec 30 2008 // Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced that the Statewide Grand Jury has indicted Richard Oliver on four felony charges involving asbestos removal and disposal. The charges include causing or contributing to a...
Cleanup of Oklahoma Zinc Smelter to Cost $6.6M; Viacom to Pay
Dec 30 2008 // Heavy-metal contaminants left by an Oklahoma zinc smelter that closed more than eight decades ago will be cleaned up through a $6.6 million plan chosen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The former Tulsa Fuel and...
Group Urges Tennessee Residents to Avoid Ash from Coal Plant
Dec 29 2008 // Authorities need to more strongly warn residents that muck left from a major coal-ash spill in eastern Tennessee could pose health risks, a southern environmental group said Saturday. The Tennessee Department of...
Insurer is ‘Torturing’ Policy Using Pollution Exclusion to Deny Death Claims
Dec 22 2008 // U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston has been called upon to rule if Great American Insurance Co. is acting within policy and contract language and in accordance with the required utmost good faith in asserting...
Navigators Launches Environmental Unit; AIG’s Robinson Named VP
Dec 22 2008 // Navigators Management Co. has established Navigators Environmental, a new business unit that will focus on underwriting specialized environmental insurance products on a global basis. Adrien Robinson has joined Navigators...
Insurer Arguing Smoke, Pollution – not Fire – Caused Deaths in Houston
Dec 19 2008 // An insurance company is arguing in a Texas court that a policy it issued that excludes payments for pollution prevents the families of three people killed in a 2007 Houston office building fire from being compensated...
Rockhill Insurance Names Pittignano, Ziogas to Envionmental Division
Dec 18 2008 // Kansas City, Mo.-based Rockhill Insurance Company recently added Alex Pittignano to its Rockhill Underwriting Management as vice president of Environmental and Jim Ziogas has joined National Environmental Coverage...
Aon Highlights ‘Emerging Risks’ for UK Businesses
Dec 17 2008 // Aon has issued a warning from its London office to UK companies, which indicates that they may “face new insurance claim burdens in 2009 with fraud on the increase and spiraling legal fees.” Aon also said that,...
Ace Strengthens Environmental Team as UK to Implement New Legislation
Dec 17 2008 // ACE Europe (ACE) announced that it has “further strengthened its environmental risk team with the appointment of Chris Strong as Environmental Risk Underwriter.” ACE said it made the appointment in anticipation...
Aon Names Finnamore for Risk Management in Far East, Asia, Australia
Dec 15 2008 // Aon Corp. announced that Jim Finnamore will join the firm in January as regional director of Aon Environmental Services Group, Asia-Pacific. He will be based in Singapore and will coordinate the delivery of the...
Cleanup Agreement Reached for Massachusetts Landfill
Dec 15 2008 // Environmental officials say a settlement has been reached to complete the cleanup of the Shpack landfill in Norton and Attleboro, Massachusetts The landfill is a federal Superfund site contaminated with chemical and...
U.S. Needs More Study on Risks of Nanotechnology: Research Council
Dec 12 2008 // The U.S. government needs a more comprehensive plan for studying the risks of nanotechnology, the National Research Council said. While the committee that prepared the report did not evaluate the safety of nanomaterials,...
Maine Mercury Cleanup at Issue in Federal Ruling
Dec 10 2008 // A federal judge has refused to block Maine environmental regulators from enforcing a mercury cleanup order at a former chemical plant’s Orrington landfills. Mallinckrodt LLC of St. Louis, a subsidiary of U.S....
