Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Maine Town’s Plan to Remove Two Dams Includes Marina Insurance Measure
Jan 16 2025 // The Yarmouth town council voted unanimously this month to remove two town-owned dams on the Royal River and consider fish passage improvements at a stretch of rapids in between them, a historic vote more than two decades...
Bayer Faces Billions in Payouts for Decades-Old Toxic Mess
Jan 16 2025 // Bayer AG’s Monsanto unit stopped making toxic PCBs a half century ago, but the legal fallout lingers even as many of the building materials made with the chemicals are no longer used in US homes, schools and...
Russian Insurer Says US Sanctions Against it Increase Risk of Environmental Disaster
Jan 14 2025 // Russian insurance company Ingosstrakh said on Friday [Jan. 10] that U.S. sanctions against it would increase the risk of environmental disasters. The Biden administration on Friday imposed its broadest package of sanctions...
Exxon Sues California AG, Environmental Groups Over ‘Smear’
Jan 7 2025 // Exxon Mobil Corp. filed a lawsuit alleging that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups made defamatory comments about the oil company’s ability to recycle plastic. Exxon accused Bonta,...
Maryland Sues Gore-Tex Maker Over ‘Forever Chemicals’ Pollution
Dec 30 2024 // Maryland is suing the company that produces the waterproof material Gore-Tex often used for raincoats and other outdoor gear, alleging its leaders kept using “forever chemicals” long after learning about...
Group Calls New Jersey’s Toxic Waste Dump Settlement ‘Woefully Inadequate’
Dec 20 2024 // Years of toxic waste dumping in a Jersey Shore community where childhood cancer rates rose caused at least $1 billion in damage to natural resources, according to an environmental group trying to overturn a settlement...
EPA Approves California’s Plan to Ban Sale of Gas-Only Cars in 2035
Dec 19 2024 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday it has approved California’s landmark plan to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. The decision in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s...
EPA Awards $135M to California to Phase out Big Diesel Trucks
Dec 16 2024 // The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $135 million in grants to fund 13 projects in California to help the state wean off fossil fuels and phase out big rigs that run on diesel. The money will go to the state...
Federal Court Affirms $14M Penalty Against Exxon for Pollution in Texas
Dec 12 2024 // A federal court on Wednesday affirmed a federal judge’s 2021 ruling imposing a $14.25 million penalty on Exxon Mobil for thousands of violations of the federal Clean Air Act at the company’s refinery and...
New Mexico Seeks $47.8M Fine for Excess Air Pollution by Natural Gas Processor
Dec 9 2024 // New Mexico environmental regulators have issued a $47.8 million fine on allegations of excess air pollution at a natural gas processing facility in a prolific oil production region near the Texas state line. The state...
Insurer Says Pollution Exclusion Sinks Coverage for Pool Chemical Injuries
Nov 26 2024 // A commercial general liability policy with a pollution exclusion does not protect a Virginia homeowners association from lawsuits filed by swimmers alleging they were injured by chemicals discharged into the community...
Company Settles for $250K Over Hazardous Waste Claims at California Facility
Nov 18 2024 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with a firm over claims of violations of hazardous waste regulations at the company’s facility in Irvine, California. Edwards Lifesciences LLC will pay...
PepsiCo Beats New York State’s ‘Predatory’ Lawsuit Over Plastics Pollution
Nov 4 2024 // PepsiCo won the dismissal of New York’s lawsuit accusing the beverage and snack-food company of polluting the environment with single-use plastic packaging, as the judge criticized the state’s attorney general,...
Los Angeles County Sues PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Over Plastic Pollution
Nov 1 2024 // Los Angeles County has sued beverage makers PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, accusing them of polluting the most populous U.S. county with plastic bottles and misleading the public about the environmental impact and recyclability of...
Toxic Waste That Set Off Global Outcry Seized by Albania’s Prosecutors
Oct 30 2024 // Albanian prosecutors ordered that containers filled with suspected hazardous industrial waste be seized after the cargo was forced to return to Europe from Southeast Asia. The prosecutors’ order Sunday directed...
Georgia County to Sue BioLab Over Chemical Fire and Toxic Fumes
Oct 25 2024 // CONYERS, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia county is preparing a federal lawsuit that aims to shut down the BioLab chemical factory where a fire sent a toxic chemical cloud over Atlanta’s suburbs last month, the latest in a...
Tennessee Pollution Exclusion Confusion: Courts Differ But Clauses Can Apply
Oct 23 2024 // Insurers often include exclusions within their liability policies to prohibit coverage for claims arising out of pollution exposure. The exact wording of the exclusion can differ significantly, but the key issue is whether...
Walmart to Pay $7.5M to Resolve California Hazardous Waste Charges
Oct 23 2024 // Walmart will pay $7.5 million to resolve charges that the largest U.S. retailer illegally disposed of hazardous and medical waste from its facilities into California municipal landfills. The settlement was announced on...
Supreme Court Allows EPA Power Plant Pollution Curbs for Now
Oct 17 2024 // The US Supreme Court let the Environmental Protection Agency move ahead with its stringent new emissions limits for power plants, rebuffing businesses and Republican-run states that complained the rule will impose...
EPA Proposes $4.2M Settlement Related to 2019 Explosion at Philadelphia Refinery
Oct 10 2024 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a tentative $4.2 settlement with a firm that owned and operated a major East Coast refinery that was shuttered after an explosion and fire in 2019. The deal with...
