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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • May 08, 2025

    New Mexico Refinery Operator To Pay U.S. $1M For Polluting Air With Benzene

    LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The owner and operator of a New Mexico oil refinery has implemented a series of remediation projects and will pay the federal government more than $1 million for violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and New Mexico Air Quality Control Act (AQCA) through a consent decree reached after reports of high benzene levels from the facility’s property boundary monitoring program.

  • May 08, 2025

    Environmental Organizations Sue For FOIA Violations Over Army Corps Energy Records

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two environmental nonprofits want a federal judge to order the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to hand over public records pertaining to regulations and permit applications filed in response to a presidential executive order that aims to address the “inadequate” national supply and capacity of energy and critical minerals, alleging multiple violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a civil complaint.

  • May 08, 2025

    Ohio Asks High Court To Look At Waivers, Sovereignty In CWA Permitting Process

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to findings that Ohio’s ability to participate in the certification process for a pipeline project was waived when it failed to respond to a builder’s Clean Water Act (CWA) application within one year, the state of Ohio is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the time frame to waive responses to proposed projects affecting state waters under the CWA permitting application process and determine whether states completely lose the ability to protect their waters if they fail to participate in the process.

  • May 06, 2025

    High Court Denies Petitions Challenging Wind Energy Environmental, Economic Effects

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Supreme Court on May 5 denied two petitions seeking guidance regarding the interpretation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as they relate to the federal government’s approval of a lease to construct an industrial wind energy project off the coast of Massachusetts; one petitioner argued that the decision “has grave adverse consequences for marine safety, the environment, and national security” and the other stated that construction “will forever change the character of the marine environment and the use of the high seas for trade, navigation, fishing—and public enjoyment of all kinds.”

  • May 05, 2025

    Nationwide ‘Energy Crisis’ Declared By Trump Leads To Lawsuits Against 4 States

    In an effort to address an alleged “energy crisis” plaguing the country, the United States filed lawsuits against New York and Vermont over their recently approved climate change policies and against Hawaii and Michigan over threats of legal action against fossil fuel providers over emissions, alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution and the Clean Air Act (CAA).

  • May 02, 2025

    Energy Plaintiffs Want N.Y. Climate Change Act Suit To Stay In Southern District

    NEW YORK — Several organizations representing the country’s largest energy producers that are challenging the constitutionality of New York’s what they call “unprecedented” Climate Change Superfund Act oppose state officials’ motion to transfer the case from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to the Northern District of New York, stating that the officials fail to show that the move “would serve the convenience of the parties or the interests of justice.”

  • April 30, 2025

    10th Circuit Remands EPA’s Approval Of Colorado’s Air Quality Plan For Emissions

    DENVER — A panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially granted and partially denied an environmental group’s petition for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s action related to Colorado’s state implementation plan (SIP) for keeping air pollutants below the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), remanding the issue to the EPA for further explanation of its decision to approve a revised definition of the term “commencement of operation.” The SIP has particular application with regard to emissions associated with hydraulic fracturing activity.

  • April 28, 2025

    Complaint Filed Over Records Request For CAA Pollution Standards Reconsideration

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A nonprofit environmental organization alleges in a District of Columbia federal court complaint filed April 25 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to provide access to public records related to the agency’s reconsideration of Clean Air Act (CAA) hazardous air pollution standards promulgated by the new federal administration.

  • April 28, 2025

    Ga. Federal Judge Approves Company’s Class Settlement For PFAS In Drinking Water

    ROME, Ga. —  A specialty chemical manufacturer with admitted involvement in contaminating groundwater in northwest Georgia with toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will pay $1 million in class benefits, establish a temporary drinking water fund and pay attorney fees and costs to a group of water subscribers and ratepayers through a partial class action settlement that was granted final approval by a federal judge.

  • April 28, 2025

    Judge: Exxon Is Not Liable For Strict Liability In MTBE Saga With Pennsylvania

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York has ruled that Exxon Mobil Corp. and its affiliates are not liable for strict product liability claims brought by the state of Pennsylvania in a long-running case alleging groundwater contamination from the presence of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

  • April 25, 2025

    Missouri Superfund Site Property Owner Agrees To $769K Remediation Reimbursement

    ST. LOUIS — Pursuant to a proposed consent decree filed in federal court, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is slated to receive $769,722 in remediation reimbursement costs from a Missouri Superfund site property owner to resolve claims against the owner alleging violations of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) for contamination from uranium ore and residue processing materials.

  • April 24, 2025

    California Minors Appeal Dismissal Of EPA Climate Change Claims To 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A group of California minors have taken allegations that they have been damaged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to prevent climate change and its discriminatory policies against children to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals after a federal judge dismissed their amended complaint for failure to demonstrate traceability and injury-in-fact.

  • April 23, 2025

    Liquid Fuel Petitioners Argue For Standing In High Court EPA CAA Fuel Waiver Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 23 in a dispute over whether the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it determined that a group of liquid fuel sellers and producers lacked standing to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to waive new Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for automobile emissions as they apply to California.

  • April 22, 2025

    10th Circuit Appeal In Colorado Dam Construction Wrong, Premature, Nonprofits Say

    DENVER — A group of environmental nonprofits argue that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lacks jurisdiction, the wrong standard of review was applied and a stay would “severely, inequitably disrupt the status quo ante” in opposition to a motion filed by the city and county of Denver seeking to stay an order that enjoined construction of a massive water expansion project in Boulder County.

  • April 21, 2025

    Lawsuit Alleges EPA Violated CAA By Not Ruling On Pollution In California Valley

    SAN FRANCISCO — A group of environmental nonprofits filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA) for failing “to perform two nondiscretionary duties” in regard to the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), thus causing a “public health crisis” from the level of air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

  • April 18, 2025

    Executive, Companies Plead Guilty To Negligent Conduct That Caused Worker’s Death

    AUSTIN, Texas — The U.S. Department of Justice announced that an oilfield company executive, his company and another company have pleaded guilty to violations of multiple federal laws in relation to the release of hazardous gas from hydraulic fracturing drilling operations that resulted in the deaths of an employee and his wife. The executive will serve five months in prison and the companies will pay a total $1.4 million in fines.

  • April 17, 2025

    Groups Say Iron Works Has Polluted Groundwater With Stormwater Discharges

    SAN DIEGO — Environmental groups have sued an ironworking company in California federal court arguing that it is liable for contamination of local groundwater because it has discharged, and continues to discharge, polluted stormwater from its facility to downstream waters and groundwater in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  • April 16, 2025

    EPA Appeals Grant Funding Freeze Suit After Nonprofits Get Preliminary Injunction

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed a notice of appeal on April 16 to the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to overturn a federal judge’s order that granted a preliminary injunction enjoining the EPA from effectuating the termination of National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) grants to three nonprofit financial organizations and a group of state “green banks” and ordered the bank that administers the grants to “disburse any funds properly incurred” prior to the EPA’s suspension of the grant program in mid-February.

  • April 16, 2025

    Groups Request Extra Response Time In High Court CAA Penalty Case; Exxon Objects

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two environmental nonprofits on April 15 asked for more time to adequately prepare a response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by ExxonMobil asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an order issued by a “fractured” en banc Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that requires the company to pay a $14.25 million penalty for alleged air pollution incidents at a Texas facility.

  • April 15, 2025

    Alaskan Tribes Say Corps Issued Gold Mining Project Permit That Violates CWA, NEPA

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Three native Alaskan tribes are asking a federal judge to vacate a permit the U.S. Army Corps issued to a company planning a five-year gold mining project in the Bonanza Channel, alleging that they violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to fully evaluate the environmental effects of the proposed project.

  • April 15, 2025

    Nonprofits Sue Federal Agencies Over Removal Of Climate Change, Environmental Sites

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of environmental nonprofits on April 14 sued several federal agencies over the recent removal of “webpages that served as key sources for information about environmental justice and climate change,” alleging violations of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) and Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

  • April 14, 2025

    U.S. Ends ‘Environmental Justice’ Deal Targeting Low-Income Ala. Wastewater Issues

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pursuant to an executive order issued by President Donald J. Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division announced in a press release issued April 11 the effective termination of an interim resolution agreement that implemented remedies to address discrimination against residents of a low-income Alabama county through the state and local health departments’ onsite wastewater disposal efforts.

  • April 14, 2025

    5th Circuit: SNAP Program User Data Can’t Be Disclosed To Water System Manager

    NEW ORLEANS — The creation of a new water rate pricing structure in Jackson, Miss., that provides discounts to recipients of benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) did not constitute a federal assistance program and, therefore, the city’s water system operator is not entitled to access of SNAP recipients’ personal data as part of the efforts to implement the new rates, a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled.

  • April 11, 2025

    EPA Continues Arguing Jurisdiction, Cites High Court Case In Grant Freeze Lawsuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says in a reply in support of its notice of an order in a case involving another federal agency that three nonprofit financial organizations and a group of state “green banks” prove in their responses to the notice that a lawsuit filed in District of Columbia federal court to regain access to National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) money that was frozen by the new federal administration “is a contract dispute over which the Court lacks jurisdiction.”

  • April 09, 2025

    Plaintiffs Say Objections To Ore. Water Contamination Case Findings Lack Merit

    PENDLETON, Ore. — A group of residents who sued the port of Morrow and several agricultural companies pursuant to Oregon state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) for alleged contamination of groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin say a federal magistrate judge’s findings of fact and recommendation stating they can pursue most of their claims for relief should be entirely adopted and that a litany of objections made by the defendants does not have merit.