Environmental News

Plains All American Agrees to Pay $73M to Settle California Oil Spill Lawsuit

Plains All American Pipeline has agreed to pay $72.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the 2015 Refugio Beach oil spill in Santa Barbara, a filing showed on Tuesday. The spill occurred after a pipeline, which ran across California’s coastline, …

Los Angeles County Sues PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Over Plastic Pollution

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 their containers. The county in a lawsuit …

Walmart to Pay $7.5M to Resolve California Hazardous Waste Charges

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 Tuesday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, following …

Hilcorp Fined $9.4 Million for New Mexico Methane Emissions

Hilcorp Energy Co., the privately held oil producer run by billionaire Jeff Hildebrand, will pay a $9.4 million civil penalty for failing to reduce emissions of methane and volatile gases in New Mexico. It’s the first settlement to address violations …

Oregon County Adds Utility to $51B Climate Suit Against Fossil Fuel Companies

Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, has added the state’s largest natural gas utility to its $51.5 billion climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies over their role in the region’s deadly 2021 heat- dome event. The lawsuit, filed last year, …

Washington’s Landmark Climate Law Hangs in The Balance This Election

A groundbreaking law that forces companies in Washington state to reduce their carbon emissions while raising billions of dollars for climate programs could be repealed by voters this fall, less than two years after it took effect. The Climate Commitment …

Toxic Debris from Hawaii Wildfire Could Fill 5 Football Fields 5 Stories Deep

Hinano Rodrigues remembers being 4 or 5 years old, carrying a bucket across a highway to the ocean in the Maui community where he still lives. At dawn, he would accompany his grandmother to a reef at low tide, where …

Net Zero’s Carbon Removal Conundrum

To achieve net-zero emissions, where emissions and removals of greenhouse gas pollution balance each other out, governments and corporations must do two things: cut emissions as much as possible and remove any residual pollution from the atmosphere. To gauge the …

Chevron to Pay $550 Million Settlement to Richmond, California

Chevron Corp. is to pay Richmond City Council $550 million over 10 years, the city said in a statement, in a settlement that saw it drop a proposed ballot on a new tax on the oil major’s Richmond refinery. Richmond …

Environmental Groups Sue Suncor for Colorado Refinery Pollution

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against Suncor Energy on Tuesday, alleging that pollution from the company’s Commerce City refinery in Colorado has resulted in long-lasting harm to surrounding communities. The lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of GreenLatinos, the …