Latest Pollution Headlines
All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.
VW May Miss Court Deadline for Diesel Fix with U.S. Regulators
Mar 24 2016 // Volkswagen AG will probably miss a Thursday court deadline to reach a comprehensive agreement with U.S. authorities over its tainted diesel engines, possibly exposing the carmaker to daily fines and other sanctions. While...
Ironshore Environmental Expands Spill Coverage to Real Estate Segment
Mar 21 2016 // Ironshore Environmental is expanding its industry SPILLS program to the real estate sector, offering blanket coverage for all owned and leased residential and commercial properties without the need to schedule...
Rural Coastal Counties Fear Economics of Battle Against Rising Seas
Mar 15 2016 // Tyrrell County sits just inland from North Carolina’s Outer Banks barrier islands. With 3,600 people living and farming along 400 square miles, it’s an ecologically rich enclave. It also ranks No. 1 among 319...
278 Volkswagen Institutional Investors File €3.3 Billion Suit in Germany
Mar 15 2016 // Almost 300 institutional investors in Volkswagen have filed a multi-billion euro suit against the carmaker for what they see as breaches of its capital markets duty in the emissions scandal, the law firm representing them...
Pollution, Drought, El Niño Leading to Collapse of Florida’s Coastal Environments
Mar 15 2016 // Central Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, North Florida’s Apalachicola Bay and a trio of coastal estuaries in South Florida are in the throes of ecosystem collapses that threaten sea grass, fisheries, recreation...
Judge: BP not Required to Pay Moratorium-Related Oil Industry Losses
Mar 14 2016 // A federal judge in Louisiana ruled that BP does not have to pay for economic losses other businesses suffered when the federal government shut down deep-water drilling in the wake of BP’s catastrophic 2010 oil spill...
Residents Sue Oregon Glass Company over Pollution Concerns
Mar 8 2016 // Seven Portland, Ore. residents are filing a class-action lawsuit against a city glass manufacturer over pollution concerns. The Oregonian reported that the suit claims Bullseye Glass was negligent and reckless in burning...
North Carolina Regulators Claim Duke Energy Coal Ash Pits Polluting Water
Mar 8 2016 // Duke Energy is violating state pollution laws because its coal ash pits are polluting nearby waterways, North Carolina environmental regulators said Friday. Fines are being considered. The state Division of Water Resources...
Group Sues ExxonMobil Over Baton Rouge Chemical Plant Emissions
Mar 7 2016 // An environmental group’s lawsuit claims ExxonMobil Corp. continues to violate Clean Air Act regulations despite a 2014 settlement over emissions from the company’s Baton Rouge chemical plant. The Louisiana...
Audit Criticizes Michigan Environmental Regulators over Flint Water Crisis
Mar 7 2016 // Michigan environmental regulators made crucial errors as Flint began using a new drinking water source that would become contaminated with lead, auditors said on March 4, as crews in the city started to dig up old pipes...
New Mexico Court Revives Neighborhood Oil Contamination Case
Mar 7 2016 // More than 200 current and former residents who claim decades of oil and gas operations led to contamination that spurred a rash of illnesses in their southeastern New Mexico neighborhood will be able to pursue their case...
Travelers Enhances Contractors Professional, Pollution Liability Coverage
Mar 6 2016 // Travelers has enhanced its product offering for contractors by combining professional liability and pollution liability coverages. The product now offers additional protection against environmental damage caused by design...
Chubb Names Product Line & Customer Segment Leaders for Continental Europe
Mar 4 2016 // Chubb has appointed the team that will lead product line underwriting and distribution for its Continental Europe region. Each of the newly announced positions will report to Steve Reiss, chief operating officer,...
Samarco, BHP & Vale Agree to Pay $5B in Damages for Brazil Mining Disaster
Mar 3 2016 // Mining company Samarco and its owners, BHP Billiton and Vale SA , reached a deal with the Brazilian government on Wednesday to pay an estimated 20 billion reais ($5.1 billion) in damages over 15 years for a deadly dam...
Jury Clears BP Manager of Clean Water Act Charge
Feb 26 2016 // A former BP manager charged with violating U.S. pollution law over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was cleared by a New Orleans jury, thwarting federal prosecutors’ last chance to jail someone over the...
Thawing Arctic Ice Creates New Environmental Risks as Shipping Routes Open
Feb 25 2016 // The Arctic is thawing even faster than lawmakers can formulate new rules to prevent the environmental threat of heavy fuel oil pollution from ships plying an increasingly popular trade route. Average Arctic temperatures...
BHSI Launches Professional & Pollution Liability Coverage for Contractors
Feb 23 2016 // Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) has launched Contractor’s Protective, Professional and Pollution (CP3) Liability Policy, which is available on a primary and excess basis for practice or project-specific...
Ex-Freedom President Gets 1 Month in Prison for West Virginia Chemical Spill
Feb 18 2016 // An executive who appeared unsympathetic when he spoke to the public after a chemical spill sullied tap water for 300,000 people in West Virginia was sentenced to one month in federal prison Wednesday. Ex-Freedom Industries...
Climate Change’s No Justice, No Pancake, No Fly Zone
Feb 18 2016 // A conceivable diminishment in my pancake experience is what I’ll take away from the last two weeks of weird headlines tied to the topic of climate change. However, it was the rancor over the death of Supreme Court...
Lawsuit Says N.J.’s Post-Sandy Coastal Zone Rules ‘Don’t Make Sense’
Feb 17 2016 // Some New Jersey residents and environmental groups are suing to try to block the state’s new rules governing coastal development in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, saying they allow too many people and buildings to be...
