Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com, January 16, 2015 By: Chris Anderson A jury has awarded Manatee County $2.2 million after it found one of the country’s top engineering firms to be negligent during repair work on the Lake Manatee Dam. After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated for less than six hours and found that URS Corp. was […]

Source: http://www.yakimaherald.com, January 15, 2015 By: Ross Courtney In a wide-ranging ruling Wednesday, a federal judge found that one of the Yakima Valley’s largest dairies, the Cow Palace near Granger, has polluted groundwater through its application, storage and management of manure, posing possible “imminent and substantial endangerment” to the public consuming the water and the […]

<Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 13, 2015 By: Jesse Glickstein, Eric Rothenberg, Kelly McTigue and Danielle C. Gray, O’Melveny & Myers LLP This is a quarterly update to our coverage on laws, regulation, and policy affecting hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) operations. Our last installment was issued September 2, 2014, and may be found here. This latest update details developments in […]

Source: http://www.timesunion.com, January 13, 2015 By: Brian Nearing Dry-cleaning solvent, byproducts spreading from Central Avenue site The state Department of Environmental Conservation will investigate a toxic underground chemical plume beneath a former Central Avenue dry cleaner that is moving toward homes and businesses in Colonie. There are unsafe levels of a dry-cleaning solvent — tetrachloroethene (PCE) […]

Source: http://www.konp.com, January 15, 2015 As of January 12th, The Port of Port Angeles officially filed suit in Clallam County Superior Court, naming 22 insurance companies the Port says failed to properly represent and defend them from environmental liability claims. Some of the named companies have coverage dates that go back to 1961. The claims […]

Source: The Charleston Gazette (WV), January 14, 2015 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com In a paper published today, the Duke scientists said they found ammonium and iodide in wastewater from treatment sites in Pennsylvania and from a spill from a storage tank at a site in West Virginia. “This discovery raises new concerns about the environmental and […]

Source: http://theadvocate.com, January 13, 2015 By: David J. Mitchell A former DuPont chemical plant operator testified Monday that plant workers used black plastic drain pipes held together with duct tape to try to stem the flow of toxic leaks from the company’s acid plant in Ascension Parish and avoid costly shutdowns. Jeffrey M. Simoneaux, the […]

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY), January 12, 2015 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com There’s been little heat so far in Kentucky over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique of drilling for oil and natural gas that has caused division elsewhere in the country, but now the controversy has gushed up here. The potential to develop a vast underground […]

Source: http://www.courierpress.com, January 10, 2015 By: Thomas B. Langhorne Dan Stocks doesn’t want to talk about the toxic mess his company left at Miller Plating & Metal Finishing or the fact that taxpayers footed the $1.4 million bill for the cleanup. Stocks did not respond to telephone, text and Facebook messages seeking comment about the […]

Source: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com, January 7, 2015 By: Paul Gottlieb Port of Port Angeles commissioners are suing insurance carriers over three environmental cleanup projects that will cost tens of millions of dollars to complete. Commissioners Jim Hallett, John Calhoun and Colleen McAleer voted Tuesday to sue the carriers over the projects, in which the port has been […]

Source: http://www.northjersey.com, January 11, 2015 By: James M. O’Neill DuPont plans to create a spinoff company that would take on the environmental liability for about 190 contaminated sites across the country, including DuPont’s former munitions facility in Pompton Lakes, one of its most costly cleanup sites. The change is not expected to slow progress on […]

Source: http://www.insurancejournal.com, January 8, 2015 By: Andrew Zajac and Mark Drajem A coalition of advocacy groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for public access to information on toxic chemicals released by the energy industry through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and other forms of oil and gas drilling. Fracking involves the injection of water, chemicals […]