Source: http://www.lexology.com, July 15, 2014 By: Matthew D. Stockwell, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP On June 23, 2014, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in the case Dormitory Authority of the State of New York v. Continental Casualty Company (2014 WL 2808073), a declaratory judgment action filed by a building owner against the architect’s […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, July 15, 2014 By: Michael A. Nesteroff, Lane Powell PC Oregon’s 10-year statute of repose may now play a bigger role in environmental lawsuits in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, does not supersede a state statute […]

Source: XL Environmental, Product Update, July 15, 2014 Pollution events involving the release of chemicals, petroleum, hazardous and non-hazardous materials or wastes, or food grade commodities while in transit are an unfortunate reality with significant exposure for environmental liability. The severity of an environmental event can be catastrophic for a bulk transport company’s bottom line. […]

Source: http://taftlaw.com, July 9, 2014 In a recent opinion, the Indiana Court of Appeals examined and provided significant analyses of a number of fundamental concepts in insurance law, including the definition of “property damage,” the concept of “occurrence,” the expected-or-intended exclusion, the contractual-liability exclusion and the common-law known-loss doctrine. Indiana Insurance v. Kopetsky, No. 49A02-1304-PL-340 […]

Source: http://whowhatwhy.com, July 14, 2014 By: Les Neuhaus It’s cost $40 billion so far to clean up America’s biggest nuclear waste site—half the size of Rhode Island—and it’s going to take another 40 years and $100 billion to finish the job. In the meantime, workers from the Hanford nuclear site in Washington State are still […]

Source: http://www.adn.com, July 14, 2014 By: Dermot Cole While the state has agreed to pay up to $585,000 for preliminary engineering and design to expand a water utility near the shuttered North Pole refinery, it remains locked in a three-way court fight with the past and present refinery owners over spilled sulfolane. The state blames […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, July 11, 2014 By: Steven R. Inouye and Arthur Schwartz, Gordon & Rees LLP The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, held an insurer had no duty to defend a steel subcontractor because its installation of defective tie hooks did not constitute “property damage” under a commercial general liability (CGL) policy, even […]

Source: Inside EPA Weekly Report, July 11, 2014 Posted on: http://fpn.advisen.com Appellate court judges at June 26 oral arguments were dismissive of EPA policy arguments that the agency will face tougher challenges in achieving cleanups at Superfund sites unless the court clearly rules that parties who sign consent agreements with the agency are barred from […]

Read here about a naturally occurring asbestos that has been found in rocks near a housing development in Washington state.

Source: http://www.news-gazette.com, July 11, 2014 By: Tracy Moss The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has decided to remove contaminated soil around 29 homes south of Tilton that have tested positive for high levels of lead and arsenic that likely drifted by wind and rain from a nearby zinc smelter site. The federal agency plans to dig […]

Source: http://members.jacksonville.com, July 10, 2014 Environmental contractors are back in Brunswick this week putting down more test wells to determine how far contamination from Hercules Inc.’s former operation has spread. The groundwater beneath the sprawling chemical plant a few hundred yards from the marsh has been found to contain a number of pollutants, most notably […]

Source: http://www.news-gazette.com, July 11, 2014 By: Patrick Wade Fed up with the state agency, Champaign residents are now looking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to address their concerns about toxic waste in their neighborhood. They’re also hoping that the chemicals they suspect remain under their homes don’t end up above the Mahomet Aquifer. Their […]