Environmental Protection Agency News

West Virginia Town Issued ‘Do Not Drink’ Advisory Over Chemical Level in Water

West Virginia officials have issued a “Do Not Drink” advisory for Vienna water after the Environmental Protection Agency announced a new limit for the amount of a chemical present in Wood County’s drinking water. News outlets report that state officials …

Oregon Ice Cream Company Pays $55K Fine in EPA Settlement

The Oregon Ice Cream Co. has agreed to pay $55,000 for violating federal safety rules at its Eugene plant. In 2011, Environmental Protection Agency inspectors found that the company failed to meet industry safety standards for its ammonia refrigeration equipment …

EPA: Missouri Landfill Fire Fix to Come by Year’s End

A plan to make sure an underground St. Louis-area landfill fire doesn’t reach a cache of Cold War-era nuclear waste buried nearby will come before the end of 2015, an Environmental Protection Agency administrator said. Mark Hague, acting chief of …

Appeals Court Returns Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ Lawsuit to Judge

A federal judge who ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to take action to regulate farm runoff and other pollution blamed for the Gulf of Mexico’s annual oxygen-depleted “dead zone” must take a second crack at his ruling. An appeals court …

How Another Country’s Insurance Industry Is Facing Climate Change

Tim Grafton, chief executive of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, lives in a country surrounded by risk on all sides, and he’s unabashed in his efforts to use flooding events, frequent storms or other out-of-the-usual weather phenomenon as opportunities …

Landslide Cleanup Deal Reached in Oregon, Insurers to Pay

A legal path has been cleared for hundreds of tons of debris to be removed from a waterway south of Coos Bay, Ore. that’s home to federally protected coho salmon and green sturgeon. In April 2012, a massive construction landslide …

Methane Emissions Becoming an Issue for North Dakota Oil Industry

Methane emissions will likely be the next big environmental issue to face North Dakota’s booming oil industry according to a top official at the state’s Department of Health. Dave Glatt, chief of the Department of Health’s environmental health section, said …

Occidental to Pay $190M in New Jersey River Pollution Case

Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s chemical unit agreed to pay $190 million to cover its liability for the cleanup of the Passaic River in northern New Jersey, state officials said. Occidental Chemical is the legal successor to Diamond Shamrock Chemical Co., which …

Asbestos Complaint Forces Idaho Agency to Pay $56,000

The Environmental Protection Agency says Idaho inmates were exposed to asbestos when they were sent to work at an Idaho Transportation Department maintenance shop without proper training or equipment. The federal agency announced Tuesday that the Idaho Transportation Department has …

New Jersey Superfund Site Lawsuit Allowed to Proceed

A lawsuit filed against a New Jersey town and county and the Army Corps of Engineers over the nearly $80 million cleanup of a Raritan Bay Superfund site can proceed, a federal judge ruled last week. U.S. District Judge Michael …