Latest Pollution Headlines

All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Allianz Expands Global Environmental Impairment Liability Team

Sep 8 2016 // Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is expanding its global Environmental Impairment Liability (EIL) team with new senior hires in the North American and Mediterranean regions. “Environmental claims pose...

Oklahoma Quake Upgraded to 5.8 Mag, More Waste Wells Shut Down

Sep 8 2016 // Oklahoma drillers are being ordered to shut more fracking wastewater wells just as the U.S. Geological Survey is upgrading last weekend’s earthquake to a record magnitude. The Environmental Protection Agency said it...

Court Rules Massachusetts Law Applies in Rhode Island Contamination Suit

Sep 8 2016 // The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that Massachusetts law should apply in deciding whether Narragansett Electric Co. (NEC), a Rhode Island-based utilities provider, is entitled to insurance coverage for...

Lloyd’s Wins Right to Keep Oklahoma Quake Damage Lawsuit in New York

Sep 8 2016 // Lloyd’s of London has kept its lawsuit against New Dominion LLC over fracking out of the state where the ground is shaking. A federal judge in New York agreed Wednesday to decide the lawsuit by Lloyd’s seeking...

Court Allows Banana Farmers’ Toxic Pesticide Claims Against Fruit, Chemical Firms

Sep 7 2016 // Hundreds of banana farmers from Central America and South America will again have their day in court, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday revived six lawsuits accusing several big fruit and chemical companies of sickening...

37 Disposal Wells to Close after Oklahoma Quake, a Fraction of State’s Total

Sep 6 2016 // The 37 wastewater disposal wells to be shut down in north-central Oklahoma, where a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck this weekend, are just a fraction of the state’s total number. There are about 4,200 total wells...

5.6 Mag Oklahoma Quake Matches Record

Sep 6 2016 // Oklahoma registered one of its biggest earthquakes on Sept. 3 even after state regulators have beefed up limits on disposing oilfield waste and the rate of tremors had started to slow somewhat from unprecedented levels...

Zika Reveals Gaps in U.S. Mosquito Control Options

Sep 6 2016 // Over Wynwood, the Miami neighborhood where Zika gained a foothold in the continental United States, low flying planes have been spraying naled, a tightly controlled pesticide often used as a last resort. It appears to be...

Filling the Gap in Contractors Professional and Pollution Liability

Sep 6 2016 // Coverage Part A of the Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy is limited in scope, extending coverage to claims arising out of only bodily injury (BI) and/or property damage (PD). Couple Part A’s limited scope...

Questions, Research on Possible Synthetic Turf Link to Athletes’ Cancer Continue

Aug 26 2016 // Their son is gone. Luke Beardemphl, a standout Tacoma, Washington soccer player during his years at Stadium High School, died last year at 24, following a seven-year battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But Luke’s...

New Day Underwriting Managers of New Jersey Hires Giquinto to Real Estate Group

Aug 25 2016 // New Day Underwriting Managers LLC, a Hamilton, N.J., based specialty intermediary of environmental and construction related professional liability insurance, has hired Cara Giquinto as a senior account manager in its real...

U.K. Lawmakers Call for Ban on Plastic Microbeads, Citing Dangers to Food Chain

Aug 24 2016 // U.K. lawmakers called for a ban on plastic microbeads used in products such as shaving gel, exfoliating scrubs and toothpaste, saying they are harming marine life and entering the food chain. In a report published...

Beazley Doubles Environmental Risk Capacity to $50M with Lloyd’s Consortium

Aug 23 2016 // Beazley, the London-based provider of specialist environmental liability insurance, has doubled its capacity for operational and fixed site environmental risks to $50 million. Covering the environmental liabilities of...

Integro Taps Atlanta-Based Sandfrey to Lead Environmental Practice

Aug 17 2016 // International broker and risk management firm Integro Insurance Brokers has hired Tony Sandfrey to lead the firm’s Environmental practice. He will be based in Atlanta. Sandfrey, who began his career as an...

Endurance Global Risk Solutions Launches Environmental Liability Products

Aug 17 2016 // Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. has launched a new series of environmental liability insurance products, offering both primary and excess coverage for single sites or property portfolios. Endurance’s new products...

Feds Investigate Illinois Firm Fined for Exposing Staff to Asbestos

Aug 16 2016 // U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proceedings against an Illinois construction company fined for allegedly importing Mexican workers to remove asbestos are on hold as federal officials look into possible...

Mining Company Settles with Feds for $143M Cleanup

Aug 12 2016 // The federal government and state officials have reached a settlement with Chevron Mining Inc. that calls for $143 million in cleanup work at a Superfund site in northern New Mexico. The company will conduct a pilot project...

New U.S. Laws Back Still Doubted Climate Change

Aug 12 2016 // A federal appeals court in Chicago gave a thumbs-up this week to an obscure regulatory practice that helps the U.S. government account for projected costs of climate change. The decision comes less than a week after the...

Climate Change And Gisele, The Law of the Land

Aug 11 2016 // When the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio highlighted climate change, it wasn’t hard to imagine the buzz – positive and negative – that would be generated. The show included references to rising sea...

Firms May Shirk Foreign Verdicts as a Result of Chevron’s Pollution Win

Aug 11 2016 // Chevron wasn’t the only winner in Monday’s ruling by a federal appeals court over its long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation. The victory, in which the court affirmed that a lawyer for victims engaged in...