Source: The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, VA, April 21, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The U.S. Forest Service is expected in June to end two years of wrangling over whether to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the George Washington National Forest. Debate has raged about the issue since 2011, when the service initially proposed a 15-year […]

Source: http://blogs.twincities.com, April 18, 2013 The long saga of the state’s largest Superfund site took an interesting turn on Monday, April 15, when Ramsey County taxpayers became its landowners. Ramsey County bought the final slice of TCAAP — the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant — in Arden Hills this week, leaving the county in charge […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, April 12, 2013 By: Virginia L. White-Mahaffey and Erica L. Gerson, Steptoe & Johnson LLP Less than two weeks apart, two appellate courts issued opinions analyzing whether faulty work claims are covered under commercial general liability policies, each reaching a different result. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued […]

Source: http://www.irmi.com, April 2013 By: J. Kent Holland Jr., Construction Risk.com LLC Damages claimed by home owner, which were allegedly caused by Chinese drywall that was installed in his home, were excluded from coverage under his homeowners insurance policy pursuant to several exclusions, including the pollution exclusion. When it received the home owner’s claim for […]

Source: http://www.bettendorf.com, April 16, 2013 Grain Processing Corporation (GPC) in Muscatine has agreed to pay a $129,000 fine for violations of the federal Clean Water Act that occurred in 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today (4/16). “GPC failed to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) monitoring requirements by taking […]

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 16, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The owners of the SugarHouse Casino have agreed to pay $650,000 to settle claims that their workers illegally dumped construction materials into the Delaware River near the Philadelphia casino, prosecutors said Monday. Under the settlement, announced by U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger, SugarHouse HSP Gaming […]

Source: The Fayetteville Observer (NC), April 13, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The state Mining and Energy Commission will look at how the state’s open record laws apply to chemical mixtures that oil and gas companies consider trade secrets, the head of the commission said Friday. Lee County Commissioner Jim Womack serves as chairman of the […]

Read here about increasing hydraulic fracturing activities in Colorado.  

Source: USAToday.com, April 14, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Two oil projects in the works could significantly increase the amount of heavy crude oil moving on — and near — the Great Lakes, causing alarm among environmentalists because they involve the same heavy oil that was behind a $1-billion oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in […]

Source: Dow Jones News Service, April 15, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Recent pipeline ruptures, including one at an Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) pipeline that caused a major oil spill in Arkansas last month, are raising fresh questions about the safety of pipes made decades ago using obsolete welding techniques. Though the industry stopped making what […]

Source: Ottawa Business Journal (Blog), April 15, 2013 By: Jeysa Martinez, Brazeau Seller LLP Innocent and blameless property owners may be exposed to significant environmental liability risk. When assessing environmental liability one might think that, if a land owner did not create nor contribute to an environmental spill or contamination, fault and fairness would be […]

Read here about a settlement that has been reached in a dispute over pulp mill pollution in Oregon.