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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • October 31, 2025

    D.C. Federal Judge Stays CERCLA Suit Dismissal Briefing Amid Shutdown Funding Lapse

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The deadline for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to reply to a group of environmental nonprofit organizations’ opposition to a motion to partially dismiss and transfer a lawsuit filed in District of Columbia federal court over the implementation of cleanup activities that allegedly violated requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 and other federal directives is stayed until restoration of appropriations for U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) operations that expired due to the government shutdown.

  • October 30, 2025

    Wash. Federal Judge Remands Climate Change Heat Wave Death Suit To State Court

    SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington ruled that a company that owns a pipeline within the state was not fraudulently joined to a lawsuit filed by the daughter of a Seattle woman who died from extreme heat “directly linked to fossil fuel-driven alteration of the climate” and remanded the case to state court, holding that the federal court “lacks subject matter jurisdiction where the parties are not diverse and the removal was premised on diversity jurisdiction.”

  • October 30, 2025

    Split North Carolina High Court Grants DuPont A Stay In State’s PFAS Case

    RALEIGH, N.C. — A divided North Carolina Supreme Court on Oct. 29 granted a stay to E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. and its affiliates in a lawsuit brought by the North Carolina attorney general related to contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  The majority did not elaborate on its decision, but in a dissent, Justice Anita Earls wrote that “DuPont’s own dilatory conduct undermines that such an immediate temporary stay is necessary.”

  • October 29, 2025

    Defendant In PFAS Drinking Water Case Says CERCLA Claims Lack Sufficient Facts

    WHEELING, W.Va. — A defendant in a lawsuit by plaintiffs seeking to recover the costs associated with removing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have tainted local sources of drinking water under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) on Oct. 28 filed a brief arguing that the case should be dismissed for failure to state a claim. The defendant says that the plaintiffs “do not make plausible allegations of facts sufficient to support their causes of action.”

  • October 29, 2025

    N.Y. Justice: State Agency Must Meet Climate Act Conditions, Issue Rules By Feb. 6

    ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York trial court justice ruled that a state agency failed to promulgate a series of stringent greenhouse gas emissions standards designed to combat the effects of climate change and now must issue regulations and rules to meet its statutory obligation under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) by Feb. 6 in granting a petition filed by a group of environmental nonprofits.

  • October 28, 2025

    Oregon Federal Judge OKs River Contamination Cleanup Decrees Amid Intervenor Qualms

    PORTLAND, Ore. — A litany of past and present owners and operators of shipping and manufacturing facilities that were sued by the United States and a group of trustee organizations and tribes for allegedly contaminating the Willamette River through operations performed in the Portland Harbor over the last century will pay more than $36 million to restore habitats and reimburse litigation and other costs after a federal judge in Oregon granted a motion to enter two consent decrees despite objections from several intervenors.

  • October 27, 2025

    Tenn. City To Pay Damages, Penalties To Settle Federal Suit Over Plant Discharges

    COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee city that violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its state-issued National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by illegally discharging pollutants from its sewage treatment plant into the Cumberland River agreed to pay nearly $80,000 in civil penalties and more than $7,800 in damages and to spearhead a series of remediation actions to settle a lawsuit filed by an environmental nonprofit organization in federal court.

  • October 24, 2025

    Groups Sue Trump, EPA For Tapping CAA Rule To Impose Air Pollution Exemption Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several nonprofit and grassroots environmental organizations are suing President Donald J. Trump and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court in the District of Columbia over a recent federal proclamation that exempts for two years 50 chemical manufacturing plants from requirements to control and monitor hazardous, cancer-causing air pollutants, alleging the president is overstepping the bounds of his lawful authority and violating the Clean Air Act (CAA).

  • October 24, 2025

    Federal Judge In N.Y. Consolidates Similar Suits Challenging Climate Change Act

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act will be consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York per request of the defendants “because [the cases] involve common question of law or fact and because consolidation is in the interest of judicial economy.”

  • October 23, 2025

    Chemours Paints ‘Distorted’ Portrait In PFAS Case, Group Tells 4th Circuit

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An environmental advocacy group on Oct. 22 filed a response brief in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that The Chemours Co. FC LLC paints a “distorted and inaccurate portrait” of a trial court’s decision that granted the group a preliminary injunction in a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination case, saying the lower court decision does not disregard U.S. Supreme Court injunction precedent.

  • October 21, 2025

    Youths Appeal Montana Federal Judge’s Dismissal Of ‘Energy Emergency’ Orders Suit

    BUTTE, Mont. — A group of 22 minors and young adults who sued President Donald J. Trump and a litany of government agencies seeking to rescind and declare unconstitutional a series of executive orders that include directives to increase fossil fuel production filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 20 of a Montana federal judge’s dismissal of their claims for failure to establish standing.

  • October 20, 2025

    Judge Reserves Ruling In CERCLA Canal Pollution Case Pending Settlement Talks

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal judge in New York agreed to hold off on issuing a ruling on summary judgment cross-motions filed by the Brooklyn Union Gas Co. and a litany of defendants the utility sued under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act for allegedly releasing hazardous substances into the Gowanus Canal to give the parties more time to negotiate settlement agreements.

  • October 16, 2025

    Federal Judge ‘Reluctantly’ Dismisses Youths’ Fossil Fuel Executive Orders Suit

    BUTTE, Mont. — A federal judge in Montana “reluctantly” ruled Oct. 15 to dismiss a lawsuit filed by 22 minors and young adults against President Donald J. Trump and multiple government agencies seeking to rescind and declare unconstitutional a series of executive orders that include directives to increase fossil fuel production, opining that the plaintiffs failed to establish standing.

  • October 16, 2025

    City Says Its PFAS Case Does Not Belong In MDL For AFFF, Seeks Remand To Wisconsin

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — Wausau, Wis., has filed a reply brief in South Carolina federal court in support of its motion to remand the city’s lawsuit against the makers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), arguing that the city’s claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) are asserted against only local defendants and that the case should not be included in the multidistrict litigation for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF).

  • October 16, 2025

    Wash. Cities, Yacht Club Lodge Consent Decree In Federal Stormwater Runoff Suit

    TACOMA, Wash. — The cities of University Place and Tacoma, Wash., agreed to implement remediation actions, vacate property and rights-of-way and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees to resolve a citizen suit filed in Washington federal court by a yacht club alleging violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for polluting recreational waters and Puget Sound with untreated surface water.

  • October 15, 2025

    West Virginia Mining Company Agrees To Pay Nearly $75K To Settle Federal CWA Suit

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A mining company that violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) by operating mining sites while its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit modifications were pending will pay nearly $75,000 to several environmental groups for remediation efforts and attorney fees and costs to settle a citizen suit the groups filed against it in West Virginia federal court.

  • October 15, 2025

    High Court Won’t Take Up Questions In Mich. Superfund Site CERCLA Liability Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 14 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by several large paper companies’ that sought a determination on whether contribution claims for cleanup at a Michigan Superfund site could be brought under more than one section of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and whether the statute of limitations kicked in when a federal judge issued a “bare declaratory judgment” regarding liability.

  • October 14, 2025

    ‘Solar For All’ Grant Beneficiaries File Federal Suit Against EPA Over Termination

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. —  Intended beneficiaries of $7 billion in federal grants allocated to provide “low-income households and disadvantaged communities with savings on their electricity bills and affordable energy through rooftop and community solar programs” sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in federal court in Rhode Island alleging violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the U.S. Constitution after termination of the grant program as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).

  • October 10, 2025

    D.C. Circuit To Rule On Rehearing In Clean Energy Grants Termination Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Several nonprofit financial organizations and state “green banks” filed petitions for rehearing en banc with the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over a panel majority’s ruling that vacated and remanded an order that granted them a preliminary injunction that enjoined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from effectuating the termination of National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) grants, and both the EPA and the bank that administers the grants filed oppositions to the petitions.

  • October 10, 2025

    Despite DOJ Funds Lapse, Hawaii Federal Judge Denies Stay In CWA Fuel Release Case

    HONOLULU — On the heels of a summary judgment motion denial, the U.S. Navy was unsuccessful in convincing a Hawaii federal judge to indefinitely stay proceedings in a Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge case due to a lapse in U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) funding appropriations because of the government shutdown, with the judge instead continuing a trial date for three months.

  • October 09, 2025

    Judge Refuses To Reconsider Arbitration Ruling In Insured’s Contamination Suit

    PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon federal judge refused to reconsider an opinion granting a motion to compel arbitration and staying an insured’s suit filed against its excess liability insurers seeking costs for environmental contamination cleanup because the insured failed to meet its burden of showing that the court clearly erred in finding that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies to the excess policies’ arbitration provision.

  • October 09, 2025

    New York City Entitled To Fees, Costs In Climate Change Case, 2nd Circuit Affirms

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority ruled that New York City is entitled to attorney fees and costs that incurred litigating consumer protection claims brought against oil and gas companies that allegedly lied to consumers about the effects of fossil fuel products in affirming a New York federal judge’s ruling that was issued along with an order remanding the case to state court.

  • October 07, 2025

    U.S. Asked By High Court To Weigh In On Nuclear Waste Tort Liability Question

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 asked the federal government to weigh in on a uranium processing company and its former owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari asking the court to decide whether dosing regulations for nuclear incidents provide the exclusive standard of care in public liability actions pursuant to the Price-Anderson Act (PAA).

  • October 07, 2025

    U.S. Supreme Court Denies Citizen’s Intervention In Environmental Grant Freeze Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a citizen seeking to intervene as a defendant in a series of consolidated cases in which several nonprofit financial organizations and state “green banks” are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief over President Donald J. Trump’s alleged unlawful termination of National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) grants.

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Denies Ohio’s Petition In CWA Pipeline Permitting Process Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the state of Ohio that asked for clarification of the time frame to waive responses to proposed projects affecting state waters under the Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting application process and a determination regarding whether states lose their abilities to protect their waters if they fail to participate in the process.