Source: http://www.oedigital.com, April 14, 2015 By: Torgeir Willumsen and Terje Holte Analyses foresee 2015 as being the toughest year for drilling companies since 2009. On the back of falling oil prices, contractors are facing increased pressure as operators shift risks and liabilities, often in contradiction with entrenched industry-accepted allocations. Offshore contracts are changing and contractors […]

Source: http://www.berkshireeagle.com, April 13, 2015 By: Phil Demers Workers operating backhoes have begun carefully dismantling a polluted former dry cleaning business site — an eyesore located behind City Hall — beginning what promises to be a costly, multi-year environmental remediation project. The 83-year-old structure at 35-41 Federal St., which housed Stetson Dry Cleaners, is expected […]

Source: http://yosemite.epa.gov, April 13, 2015 A Boise ski and snowboard park owner and developer has received an asbestos abatement Compliance Order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following the partial demolition of the Lazy J Tavern complex near Eagle, Idaho, just northwest of Boise. In January 2014, developer Gateway Parks LLC, purchased a parcel of […]

Source: Wisconsin State Journal, April 13, 2015 By: http://envfpn.advisen.com Dane County should require Enbridge Energy to purchase $25 million in special pollution insurance to address concerns about a possible spill of tar sands crude and toxic chemicals as the company sharply increases the load carried by an underground pipeline, according to a new consultant’s report. […]

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com, April 9, 2015 By: Ariana Eunjung Cha A new study published Thursday reported a disturbing correlation between unusually high levels of radon gas in mostly residences and an oil and gas production technique known as fracking that has become the industry standard over the past decade. Writing in the journal Environmental Health Perspective, researchers analyzed […]

Source: http://www.thestate.com, April 9, 2015 By: Sammy Fretwell Evidence that a Duke Energy power plant site near Hartsville is more contaminated than previously suspected continues to grow as state regulators, environmentalists and company officials learn more about the property. Records show that a coal ash waste pond at the H.B. Robinson plant contains about six […]

Source: http://www.usatoday.com, April 9, 2015 By: Liz Szabo and Doyle Rice Levels of cancer-causing radon gas in Pennsylvania homes have increased as the fracking industry has expanded, a new study shows. The study is a preliminary “first look” into a possible connection between fracking and radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas, says co-author Joan Casey. […]

Source: http://www.archpaper.com, April 9, 2015 The prominent architecture firm NBBJ recently found itself tied up in a series of cases regarding an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Dayton, Ohio. Their story underscores some thorny legal issues for architects and building engineers. In May 2007 Ohio’s Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) and its corporate arm, Premier Health […]

Source: http://insurancenewsnet.com, April 7, 2015 Great American Insurance Group is pleased to announce $50 million per loss/$100 million policy aggregate limits of liability for its complete pollution product line. This expanded capacity, which is among the highest in the environmental insurance marketplace, can be offered on both a primary layer or on an excess of […]

Source: http://enr.construction.com, March 5, 2015 By: Nicholas Zeman, with Richard Korman A 12-story hospital addition in Dayton, Ohio that was hailed in 2010 as an advance in modular construction has turned into a major legal headache and source of costly losses to the construction team, its insurers and the project architect. The trouble emerged after […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, April 1, 2015 By: Amy B. Briggs, Donna M. Carlton, David B. Killalea , Stephen T. Raptis, Robert H. Shulman and Susan P. White, Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP Why it matters: In a victory for policyholders, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled that an asbestos exclusion was ambiguous as applied to the maker and […]

Source: http://www.courthousenews.com, April 2, 2015 By: Katherine Proctor Companies fighting over the ongoing cleanup of contaminated Sacramento soil and groundwater must return to the drawing board, the 9th Circuit ruled Thursday. The dispute arises from the industrial dry-cleaning and laundry operations Petrolane subsidiary Valley Industrial Services conducted at site in Sacramento it later sold in […]