Latest Pollution Headlines

All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Ironshore’s Boren, President of U.S. Field Operations, Retiring; Frediani to Succeed

Nov 30 2017 // Ironshore Inc. announced that industry veteran Joseph L. Boren, president of U.S. Field Operations and a noted environmental risk expert, will retire as of year-end 2017.Boren’s role as president of U.S. Field...

Insurers’ Asbestos Payments in 2016 Topped $3 Billion

Nov 30 2017 // While U.S. asbestos-related incurred losses dropped in 2016, property/casualty insurers’ payments for asbestos claims grew 9 percent and hit $3.2 billion for the year, a new A.M. Best report concludes.The $3.2...

New Sensors Tracking Earthquakes Across Texas

Nov 29 2017 // Note: This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.Three years ago, a series of quakes rattled North Texas — and some residents’ nerves. Larry Walden, a Parker County commissioner, remembers a public...

Michigan, Enbridge Reach Deal to Boost Pipeline Safety

Nov 29 2017 // Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian oil transport company Enbridge Inc. announced a timeline for determining the future of twin pipelines beneath the channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan converge.Options include...

Safety Concerns Remain at New Mexico Nuclear Waste Storage Site

Nov 29 2017 // A federal nuclear review panel still has some safety concerns about Los Alamos National Laboratory’s new multimillion-dollar storage facility for radioactive waste.The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in...

Terminix Fined $9.2M for Pesticide Use that Poisoned Delaware Family

Nov 29 2017 // A pest control company will pay more than $9 million in criminal fines tied to the use of a banned pesticide that sickened a Delaware family on vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2015.The News Journal of Wilmington...

Smith Named President of Ironshore Environmental, Replacing O’Brien

Nov 21 2017 // Ironshore Inc. announced that Toby Smith has been appointed president of Ironshore Environmental.Smith assumes the role from John O’Brien, who recently left recently the company to pursue new opportunities. Smith...

Pen Underwriting Builds on QBE Partnership with Irish P/C Capacity Deal

Nov 20 2017 // Pen Underwriting has extended its strategic relationship with QBE into the Republic of Ireland, with a new property & casualty capacity partnership in the highly specialist area of hazardous goods & environmental...

Chicken Processor Settles Florida Water Pollution Suit for $1.4M

Nov 17 2017 // A major chicken processing plant that has been cited for polluting the Suwannee River settled a lawsuit on Wednesday that was brought by environmental groups in Florida.Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. settled the suit with...

Trade Groups Push for National Labeling Law to Override States’ Requirements

Nov 16 2017 // The Grocery Manufacturers Association and dozens of other trade groups are pushing for a federal law that could override state ingredient-disclosure rules and warning labels, including California’s landmark...

North Carolina Environmental Officials to Take Action Over GenX Spill

Nov 15 2017 // The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality says a spill resulting in an increase of toxic chemical levels in a river hadn’t been reported by a chemical company until regulators approached. The StarNews...

Austin American-Statesman: Texas Has 100s of Substandard Dams in Populated Areas

Nov 14 2017 // The earthen dam on the outskirts of Georgetown in Texas’ Williamson County certainly does not look flimsy.The Austin American-Statesman reports at 35 feet high and nearly a third of a mile long, it has done a...

New Phase in California Wildfire Cleanup: Clearing Ruins

Nov 13 2017 // Rumbling bulldozers and front-loaders have started scraping up the ash, charred wood and crumbled bricks and concrete left from thousands of homes and buildings destroyed by blazes in California wine country, launching a...

Special Reuters Report: The Path to Monsanto’s Weed-Killer Crisis

Nov 9 2017 // In early 2016, agribusiness giant Monsanto faced a decision that would prove pivotal in what since has become a sprawling herbicide crisis, with millions of acres of crops damaged.Monsanto had readied new genetically...

State Sues Gas Pipeline Developer over Pollution Violations in Ohio

Nov 6 2017 // Ohio is suing the company building a $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Michigan over what it says are numerous water pollution violations during construction.The lawsuit says work on the Rover...

Despite Earthquake Risk, UK Ready to Begin Fracking – Again

Nov 6 2017 // Six years after Britain’s first fracking operation was stymied by earth tremors, its shale gas industry is poised to try again with a technology that could transform the UK gas market and drastically reduce its...

California Wildfires: May Take Years for Full Recovery

Oct 30 2017 // It will take at least months and likely years to fully recover from devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California earlier this month, destroying at least 8,900 structures and killing 42 people, Sonoma...

U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of Texas Creates Disaster Fraud Task Force

Oct 26 2017 // Acting United States Attorney Brit Featherston has established a Disaster Fraud Task Force in the Eastern District of Texas comprised of local, state, and federal agencies to combat hurricane Harvey related disaster fraud...

Government Report Finds Climate Change Costing Taxpayers Billions Each Year

Oct 25 2017 // A non-partisan federal watchdog says climate change is already costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year, with those costs expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, wildfires and droughts become more...

Farmers in Upper Midwest Report Damage from Dicamba Herbicide

Oct 20 2017 // Hundreds of farmers in the Upper Midwest are reporting damage from the controversial herbicide dicamba, and state officials are considering restrictions for the 2018 growing season that might surpass even new federal...