Source: Law360, January 18, 2013 By: Sean McLernon A Texas federal judge on Thursday shot down Noble Energy Inc.’s request to remove fellow defendant ConocoPhillips Co. from a suit brought by two insurance companies seeking to avoid paying settlement costs in an underlying oil contamination lawsuit, ruling that Noble cannot independently seek dismissal for ConocoPhillips. […]

Source: Law360, January 18, 2013 By: Juan Carlos Rodriguez A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a settlement between Eastman Kodak Co. and South Carolina that gives the state only a tiny fraction of the $30 million it had sought for cleanup costs at a former chemical company site. The $42,000 settlement comes after the […]

Source: Law360, January 18, 2013 By: Daniel Wilson The U.S. Department of the Interior announced Friday that it would delay a rule designed to tighten standards on the use of chemicals in hydraulic fracturing on public lands, amid widespread criticism over the proposed regulation from both industry and environmental groups. According to the Bureau of […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 16, 2013 By: Elizabeth Hamrick, Katherine J. Henry, Sid J. Trant and S. Revelle Gwyn, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP In a recent ruling of interest to any company named as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at a Superfund site anywhere in the country, the Alabama Supreme Court has followed the majority […]

Residents used a public meeting Thursday night to criticize a plan to remove a layer of contaminated soil from the Passaic River and place a cap over the rest, saying it doesn’t do enough to address decades of pollution and the constant threat of tainted water flooding homes in extreme weather. “I want to be […]

Source: The Willits News (CA), January 19, 2013 By: Bruce Finley, The Denver Post A snow-covered tailings heap on Boreas Pass leaks toxic cadmium and zinc, deadly for fish, into creeks that flow down through Breckenridge and, eventually, into Denver’s Dillon Reservoir. This mining mess from a century ago sat largely ignored until Friday, when […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 11, 2013 By: David Erickson and Mark Anstoetter, Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP A federal court in California has determined that the manufacturer of a dry-cleaning machine is not liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for releases that occurred during the machine’s operation. KFD Enters. Inc. v. […]

Source: Georgetown Times (SC), January 18, 2013 By: Scott Harper The first lawsuit has been filed in connection with the sinkholes that formed in the City of Georgetown in late 2011 damaging several buildings and homes. Tony and Debbie Jordan filed the suit in the 15th Circuit Court Tuesday naming Davis & Floyd Engineering, Republic […]

Source: Law360, January 16, 2013 By: Sean McLernon A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday allowed property developers to add a new plaintiff and additional claims in a $20 million environmental cleanup suit against Honeywell International Inc., finding that the allegations are timely and relate back to the original complaint. U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas E. […]

Source: Law360, Janauary 16, 2013 By: Ama Sarfo Odors emanating from a Roxbury, N.J., landfill that has battled with the state and a proposed class of residents are a nuisance, but not a health hazard, a court-appointed independent environmental expert said in a report Tuesday. Following a request from Morris County Superior Court Judge Deanne […]

Source: Law360, January 16, 2013 By: Matt Fair Minutes after he was sworn in as the state’s new auditor general on Tuesday, Eugene DePasquale said his office would undertake a sweeping investigation into potential water pollution resulting from the hydraulic fracturing boom in the state’s Marcellus Shale region. DePasquale, a former Democratic legislator in the […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 15, 2013 By: Brian Margolies, Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLC In its recent decision in Hardy Oil Co. v. Nationwide Agribusiness Ins. Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4760 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 11, 2013), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky had occasion to consider the application of […]