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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • December 23, 2025

    Oregon Federal Judge Partially Adopts, Rejects Water Contamination Case Findings

    PENDLETON, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon, in partially adopting and partially rejecting a magistrate judge’s findings of fact and recommendation, opined that some claims brought by residents against the Port of Morrow and several agricultural companies alleging violations of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) due to groundwater contamination in the Lower Umatilla Basin should be adopted while others should be dismissed without prejudice.

  • December 22, 2025

    Nonprofits Appeal CAA Waiver Intervention Denial In 9th Circuit

    OAKLAND, Calif. —  Two nonprofit trade organizations that were among a number of similar groups denied intervention as defendants in a lawsuit filed by a group of states that follow California’s regulations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for new motor vehicles challenging a series of recent resolutions that eliminated Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption waivers are appealing the California federal judge’s ruling to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • December 19, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Grants Rehearing En Banc In Clean Energy Grants Termination Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will rehear en banc an appeal in which a panel majority vacated and remanded an order that granted several nonprofit financial organizations and state “green banks” a preliminary injunction enjoining the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from effectuating the termination of National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) grants.

  • December 19, 2025

    Rhode Island Federal Judge Denies Transfer Of ‘Solar For All’ Grants Suit To D.C.

    PROVIDENCE, R.I.  — In denying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s motion to transfer to the District of Columbia federal court, a federal judge in Rhode Island held that a lawsuit filed against the EPA by the intended beneficiaries of $7 billion in grants allocated through the federal “Solar for All” program that were terminated as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) should remain in Rhode Island federal court.

  • December 17, 2025

    Oil Companies Say Federal Officer Removal Broadened, Not Unlimited

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Various oil companies told the U.S. Supreme Court in a reply brief that while the recently amended federal officer removal statute broadens the realm of conduct subject to federal jurisdiction, worries that the amendment makes removal limitless are unfounded.

  • December 17, 2025

    Energy Companies Sued In State Court Over Unplugged Wells In Los Angeles Oil Field

    LOS ANGELES — Citing an “unmitigated threat” to surrounding communities through the leak of toxic pollutants, Los Angeles County and the people of California filed a complaint in a state court against the operators of numerous unplugged oil and gas wells within the county’s Inglewood Oil Field (IOF), alleging violations of the state’s civil code and unfair competition law (UCL).

  • December 17, 2025

    Auto Parts Distributor To Pay $7.4M, Enact Mitigation To Settle CAA Emissions Suit

    EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A wholesale automotive parts distributor that sold aftermarket devices that intercepted vehicle emission controls in violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) will pay the United States $7.4 million and complete a mitigation project to curtail the tons of air pollutants that resulted from the sales through a consent decree settling a lawsuit filed in an Indiana federal court.

  • December 16, 2025

    Motorcycle Dealerships To Pay $450K, Halt Some Parts Sales In CAA Suit Settlement

    SALT LAKE CITY —  The owner and operator of four Utah Harley-Davidson dealerships accused of removing motorcycle air and emission control devices and selling aftermarket parts and vehicles without the devices in violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and Noise Control Act of 1972 (NCA) will pay $450,000 in civil penalties and are enjoined from continuing the alleged unlawful practices pursuant to a consent decree settling a federal lawsuit filed by a nonprofit comprising health care professionals.

  • December 12, 2025

    Tannery Operator, Scotchgard Producer Sued For Sloughing PFAS Scraps In Landfills

    GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The operators of two Michigan landfills that implemented measures to eliminate the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in remnants of solid waste accepted from a former regional tannery operation sued two companies allegedly responsible for the contamination in federal court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) for recovery of the costs spent to eradicate the issues.

  • December 11, 2025

    Nonprofit Sues Calif. Plastics Manufacturer For Discharging Pollutants Into Bay

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A nonprofit activist group filed a lawsuit in a California federal court against the owner and operator of an industrial plastics manufacturing facility alleging permit and Clean Water Act (CWA) violations for discharging polluted stormwater into the San Francisco Bay and its tributaries.

  • December 10, 2025

    Nonprofit Alleges Industrial Recycler’s Stormwater Discharges Violated CWA, NPDES

    TAMPA, Fla. — An environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting Florida’s Suncoast waterways filed a lawsuit in federal court against the operator of a construction and demolition debris recycler alleging violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit regulations for discharging polluted stormwater into storm drains and local waterways.

  • December 05, 2025

    Government Watchdog Group Files FOIA Suit Against EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Fund Docs

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A nonprofit government watchdog organization alleges in a lawsuit filed in District of Columbia federal court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) when it failed to produce public records the organization requested for communications between political officials and various public media outlets regarding the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).

  • December 04, 2025

    Calif. Federal Judge Denies Intervention Requests In Emissions Waiver Removal Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California found that several trade, business and government organizations with interests in a lawsuit filed by a group of states that follow California’s regulations for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for new motor vehicles challenging a series of recent resolutions that eliminated Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption waivers cannot intervene as defendants, finding that their interests are adequately represented by the federal government defendants and that intervention could “unduly delay the case without meaningfully advancing the substance of the matter.”

  • December 04, 2025

    River Protection Group Files Notice Of CWA Suit Settlement With Atlanta

    ATLANTA — A nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Chattahoochee River is finalizing a consent decree with the city of Atlanta that will settle a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Georgia over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) from discharges of pollutants from one of the city’s wastewater treatment plants through implementation of a series of remediation actions, including roughly $55 million in improvements to the wastewater disposal system.

  • December 03, 2025

    West Virginia, Illinois Settle PCB Cases With Monsanto For A Combined $180.5M

    CHICAGO — West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey on Dec. 2 announced a $60.5 million settlement with Monsanto Co. and its affiliates to resolve claims involving contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The announcement came one day after Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that the state has reached a $120 million settlement with Monsanto to resolve similar claims related to PCB contamination.

  • December 02, 2025

    Marine Construction Facility Operator To Pay $800K To Settle Federal CWA Suit

    SEATTLE — The operator of a Seattle marine construction facility accused of discharging stormwater pollution into surrounding waters outside of the conditions of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit will pay more than $800,000 to support projects benefiting water quality in the Puget Sound area and implement a series of remediation measures to settle a citizen suit filed by an environmental nonprofit in a federal court in Washington pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  • December 02, 2025

    Air Force Petitions High Court Over Dismissal Of Guam Beach Waste Disposal Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Air Force is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve circuit conflicts and address questions about final, reviewable agency enforcement of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and compliance requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in a petition for a writ of certiorari regarding rulings by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that reversed dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Guam-based nonprofit corporation challenging an agency’s decision to engage in hazardous waste disposal at Tarague Beach.

  • November 25, 2025

    Connecticut Federal Judge Says Nonprofit Can Pursue Petroleum Terminal CWA Suit

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut denied a petroleum product wholesaler’s motion to dismiss a second amended complaint filed by an environmental nonprofit alleging violations of federal law by failing to adequately guard a New Haven petroleum storage terminal from severe weather events, finding that the company’s arguments that the complaint lacks subject matter jurisdiction and fails to state claims were unpersuasive.

  • November 24, 2025

    Hanover Foods To Pay $1.15M To Settle Federal CWA Suit After U.S. Intervenes

    HARRISBURG, Pa. — The owner and operator of a Pennsylvania food processing facility sued by an environmental nonprofit in federal court for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by unlawfully discharging polluted industrial wastewater into a tributary of the Susquehanna River agreed to pay $1.15 million in civil penalties and implement remediation efforts to settle the claims following intervention by the United States.

  • November 21, 2025

    EPA Wants ‘Solar For All’ Suit Transferred To D.C.; States Seek Injunction

    SEATTLE — As a group of states and government offices that filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Washington over the termination of a series of grants designed to help low-income residents save on energy costs await a hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction to reinstate the funds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking a transfer to the District of Columbia for consolidation with a similar case.

  • November 20, 2025

    N.J. Township Wants To Challenge Settlement In DuPont Plant Site PFAS Suit

    TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey township wants to intervene in litigation brought by the state in federal court against 3M Co., EIDP Inc., formerly E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and its affiliates related to contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) stemming from activity at DuPont’s Chambers Works plant so it can challenge a proposed settlement that it claims is “arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, and unlawful unless modified.”

  • November 19, 2025

    Massachusetts Pepsi Products Facility Owner To Pay More Than $485K To Settle CWA Suit

    BOSTON — The owner and operator of a Massachusetts Pepsi product manufacturing and bottling facility accused of Clean Water Act (CWA) and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit violations for allegedly discharging polluted stormwater and wastewater into surrounding water bodies have agreed to pay $485,000 for a remediation project and implement a series of compliance, inspection, monitoring and reporting measures to settle a federal lawsuit filed by an environmental nonprofit.

  • November 18, 2025

    Louisiana: Companies’ Crude Oil Conduct Not Tied To Federal Refining Contracts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oil companies’ drilling for crude oil in Louisiana falls outside World War II-era oil refining authorized by the federal government and therefore does not create federal jurisdiction under the amended federal officer removal statute, the state and various local governments told the U.S. Supreme Court in a pair of respondent’s briefs in a case with close ties to asbestos litigation.

  • November 18, 2025

    Dissenting 9th Circuit Judge Now Concurs With Majority In Faulty Fireworks CWA Case

    PASADENA, Calif. — The dissenting judge on a divided Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that determined that a restaurant’s acquisition of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for future events mooted an environmental group’s appeal alleging violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for allowing a “low break” firework to fall into Alamitos Bay during a Fourth of July celebration now concurs with the majority’s opinion after a district court judge settled factual disputes during rehearing proceedings.

  • November 18, 2025

    Calif. Chemical Manufacturer Sued In Federal Court Over Toxic Stormwater Discharge

    LOS ANGELES — In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in California, an environmental nonprofit alleges that the operator of a chemical manufacturing facility in Santa Fe Springs violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit after discharging polluted stormwater into surrounding drains and waters.