Source: Star-Ledger (NJ), February 9, 2014 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com When A&S Russo Real Estate Co. tried to sell its Union Township property two years ago, it learned a consultant hired more than a decade ago to clean up an underground heating oil spill hadn’t really done the remediation. So when it tried to force the […]

Source: Miami Herald, February 10, 2014 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com A federal judge in Miami will consider Monday whether to sign off on a legal settlement that would require county government to spend $1.6 billion over the next 15 years to fix its dilapidated sewer system. Miami-Dade County has been negotiating the consent decree with federal […]

Source: San Bernardino County Sun (CA), February 10, 2014 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is offering some residents north of this High Desert community a free water purification system until more is understood about the nature of their pollution. Officially, Hinkley’s plume of cancer-causing chromium-6 is now eight miles long, from north […]

Source: Gloucester Daily Times (MA), February 8, 2014 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com An Essex-based demolition company has been ordered by the state Attorney General’s Office to pay up to $125,000 in civil penalties to resolve allegations of improper handling and disposal of asbestos during the demolition of a building in Worcester. According to the complaint, filed […]

Source: Dow Jones News Service, February 11, 2014 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com A private inspection of a chemical-storage facility three months before a spill there contaminated the water supply found that tanks at the site fell short of fully complying with federal standards, a federal official said Monday. But the particular tank that leaked an estimated […]

Source: http://www.alaskadispatch.com, February 6, 2014 By: Dermot Cole Flint Hills Resources of Wichita, Kan., bought the North Pole refinery near Fairbanks, Alaska, on April 1, 2004 from the Williams Companies of Tulsa, Okla. Both sides knew that sulfolane pollution existed in the groundwater beneath the 240-acre site. Beyond that, they agree on little else about […]

Source: http://www.mondaq.com, February 7, 2014 By: Stan Martin, Duane Morris LLP Diesel fuel is spilled during renovation of a library, damaging both the work in progress and the surrounding building or land.  Damages may exceed $500,000, but the owner’s pollution coverage is apparently limited to $5,000.  Is the owner barred from pursuing the contractor and […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 16, 2014 By: Franklin R. Cragle, III, Hirschler Fleisher In recent years, insurers have begun adding insurance policy riders limiting their obligations in the event of mold.  Such an issue was litigated in Moore v. Safeco Ins. Co. of America, 2013 WL 6489955 (9th Cir. 2013).  In Moore, Safeco had issued a homeowners policy.  […]

Source: http://www.businessinsurance.com, February 6, 2014 By: Judy Greenwald W.R. Grace & Co. has paid more than $63 million to the U.S. government under its bankruptcy reorganization plan to resolve environmental cleanup claims at 39 sites in 21 states. The settlement, announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency, has been part […]

Source: http://blogs.courier-journal.com, February 6, 2014 By: James Bruggers Two sites in Kentucky are part of a $63 million bankruptcy settlement involving W.R. Grace & Co, based in Columbia, Md., and the U.S. government, over environmental claims. In all, the settlement involves 39 sites in 21 states. “Cleaning up toxic pollution in communities is the responsibility of […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 31, 2014 By: Stephen M. Prignano and Nora A. Valenza-Frost, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP Construction defect litigation continues to escalate in jurisdictions around the country. As a result, coverage for defective work and ensuing property damage is often sought under various forms of insurance. Occasionally, such claims arise in the first-party context, […]

Source: http://www.businessinsurance.com, January 31, 2014 A Canadian National Railway Co. train carrying fuel oil and other hazardous materials derailed and was leaking in southeast Mississippi on Friday, forcing the evacuation of nearby residents, officials said. No one was injured in the incident which involved the derailment of 21 railcars, eight of which have spilled their […]