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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • March 05, 2026

    Ohio City Says Military Base Contaminated Drinking Water With PFAS In Federal Suit

    DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio city filed a complaint in a federal district court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) against the federal government seeking cost recovery and civil penalties for allegedly polluting the city’s drinking water supply with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-contaminated groundwater from the U.S. Department of the Air Force’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB).

  • March 05, 2026

    Suit Alleges Santa Cruz County’s Landfill Discharges Violate CWA, Federal Permit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — An environmental nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the waters of California’s central coast sued Santa Cruz County in federal court, alleging that stormwater discharges from a landfill the county operates violate the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the facility’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit.

  • March 05, 2026

    9th Circuit Won’t Revisit Revival Of CERCLA Claims Against Smelter Operator

    SPOKANE, Wash. — In denying a petition for rehearing en banc filed by the operator of a lead-zinc smelter in British Columbia allegedly responsible for disposing millions of tons of toxic slag and liquid effluent into the Columbia River, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals will not reconsider a ruling that revived claims made by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation “for over a half billion dollars” for cultural resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

  • March 05, 2026

    Group Files CWA Suit Over California Manufacturer’s Stormwater Discharges

    LOS ANGELES — A nonprofit dedicated to preserving and protecting waters along the California coastline filed a federal suit against the owner and operator of an interior home improvement products manufacturing facility alleging that the concentration of pollutants in stormwater discharges that flow into surrounding waters violated its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  • March 04, 2026

    High Court Won’t Review Washington State Bulkhead Construction CWA Permit Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by the owners of shoreline property in Washington state who sought review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming default judgment in favor of the United States after the owners were cited for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) for not obtaining a federal permit to commence construction of a bulkhead despite obtaining state permits for the work.

  • March 03, 2026

    Utility Companies, Texas City To Pay Over $1M To Settle CERCLA Contamination Suit

    SHERMAN, Texas — Several entities responsible for the release of hazardous substances from the site of a former transformer salvage business in Texas agreed to pay varying amounts totaling more than $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the United States seeking reimbursement for response costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

  • March 03, 2026

    U.S. To Pay $3.9M To North Carolina Superfund Site Owners To Settle CERCLA Suit

    ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The owners of a North Carolina Superfund site contaminated with hazardous substances following decades of weapons and chemical manufacturing operations struck an agreement with the United States in a federal court to drop their claims seeking reimbursement for cleanup costs pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 in exchange for a $3.9 million payment.

  • February 27, 2026

    EPA Repeals Air Emissions Rule; Suit Challenging Exemption Proclamation In Limbo

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — As promised, to bolster a proclamation that exempted nearly one-third of the country’s coal-fired power plants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) Rule, the agency repealed portions of the rule, and the United States filed a notice of the action in District of Columbia federal court as it pertains to a lawsuit over the proclamation brought by several environmental nonprofits against the agency and President Donald J. Trump that the government contends is now moot and should be dismissed.

  • February 27, 2026

    Massachusetts Town Sues Industrial Operators Over PFAS Water Supply Contamination

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts town filed a federal lawsuit including claims brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act seeking remediation and other damages against former owners and operators of industrial paper mills and other industrial operations that used, handled and disposed of hazardous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have allegedly seeped into the town’s drinking water supply.

  • February 24, 2026

    U.S. Gets Response Extension In Conn. Landowner’s High Court Wetlands CWA Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 granted an extension to the United States to file a response to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Connecticut farmland owner asking whether a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was correct in upholding a lower court’s ruling finding him liable for the remediation of his property after he violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by filling in protected wetlands without a permit.

  • February 23, 2026

    High Court To Review Jurisdiction, Preclusion In Climate Change Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 23 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a group of oil and gas companies that were sued by two Colorado cities for contributing to climate change asking whether federal law precludes state law claims for relief for alleged damages to infrastructure and resources by contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

  • February 23, 2026

    North Carolina Judge Dismisses Town’s Climate Change Suit Against Duke Energy

    HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A special superior court judge in North Carolina ruled that Duke Energy cannot be held liable for damages from extreme weather events that allegedly derived from climate change in dismissing a lawsuit filed by a municipality accusing the company of sharing misleading information about the negative effects of fossil fuel consumption on the environment and causing delayed transition to alternative forms of fuel.

  • February 19, 2026

    Environmental Groups, Youth Sue EPA Over Sweeping GHG Emissions Deregulation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A litany of environmental advocacy groups and 18 youths from across the country filed petitions in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 18 challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency final action published in the Federal Register the same day that rescinded Obama-era greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution regulations for engines and vehicles.

  • February 17, 2026

    California Federal Judge Enters $3.3M-Plus Judgment For CERCLA Site Cleanup

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge ruled after a bench trial that state entitites that oversaw the remediation of a contaminated former wood preserving facility are entitled to judgment of more than $3.3 million, plus interest and attorney fees, for unreimbursed response costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act against a former operator of the site.

  • February 13, 2026

    Pennsylvania Recycling Facility Sued Under CWA Over Polluted Stormwater Runoff

    PHILADELPHIA — In a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania federal court, an organization that protects watersheds in the southeast region of the state accuses the owner and operator of a scrap metal recycling facility of discharging polluted stormwater into nearby public waters in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and a required National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.

  • February 10, 2026

    Nonprofit Appeals Montana Federal Jury Verdict In Golf Course CWA Dispute

    BUTTE, Mont. — An environmental nonprofit is appealing a Montana federal jury’s verdict finding that the group failed to prove that a resort violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by directly discharging pollutants into navigable waters without a permit while filling water hazards on its golf course.

  • February 06, 2026

    CERCLA Remedial Actions At Idaho Mine Site Detailed In Federal Consent Decree

    POCATELLO, Idaho — Piggybacking on a 2013 settlement that resolved a series of claims and established a cost-allocation framework for cleanup of hazardous substances at an Idaho phosphate mine pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the United States, this time with the state of Idaho and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, and the operator of the mine filed another consent decree in federal court that details responsibility for performing remedial actions at the site.

  • February 04, 2026

    Groups Dispute CAA Exemption From Taconite Rule In Another Suit Against Trump, EPA

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joined a Minnesota environmental group in filing a lawsuit in District of Columbia federal court over another of President Donald J. Trump’s proclamations that used a previously untapped provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to, this time, exempt “the entirety of the taconite iron ore processing industry” from recently implemented U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions regulations for two years.

  • February 04, 2026

    Groups File CAA Suit In D.C. Over Ethylene Oxide Exemption Proclamation

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four environmental groups contend in a lawsuit filed in a District of Columbia federal court that President Donald J. Trump exceeded lawful authority with the passage of a proclamation that cited a previously unused Clean Air Act (CAA) provision to exempt 40 commercial sterilizers “that use cancer-causing pollutant ethylene oxide to sterilize goods” from following a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that boosts emissions regulations.

  • February 03, 2026

    Wash. State Grain Terminal Owner To Pay $320K To Settle Stormwater Runoff CWA Suit

    TACOMA, Wash. — The owner and operator of a Tacoma industrial facility that was sued in a Washington federal court by a nonprofit group dedicated to protecting Puget Sound and its tributaries for discharging polluted stormwater into surrounding waters in violation of its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and the Clean Water Act (CWA) entered into a consent decree under which it will pay $320,000 for water quality improvement projects and implement measures to ensure future compliance with statutory requirements.

  • January 29, 2026

    9th Circuit Consolidates Intervention Appeals In Emissions Waiver Removal Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court Appeals consolidated four appeals brought by several trade, business and government organizations of the denial by a New York federal judge of motions to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit against the United States 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.

  • January 28, 2026

    Companies Will Pay U.S. $2.1M Under CERCLA For New York Superfund Site Cleanup

    SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Sixteen companies accused of contributing to the contamination of a New York Superfund site agreed through a consent decree reached with the United States in a federal court in New York to pay more than $2.1 million under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) for costs incurred by the government for response and remediation.

  • January 28, 2026

    Freight Company, Nonprofit Settle CWA Suit Over Washington Watershed Pollution

    TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington state interstate motor carrier and freight company agreed to pay $140,000 to help conserve and restore the Chehalis River watershed and will implement a series of remediation efforts through a consent decree reached with an environmental nonprofit to settle a federal lawsuit over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for discharging polluted stormwater into navigable waters from a salvage and recycling facility.

  • January 27, 2026

    Groups Sue California Produce Company Over Alleged Polluted Stormwater Runoff

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two nonprofit groups dedicated to preserving and protecting the land and water along California’s Central Coast sued the owner and operator of a Salinas-based produce processing facility in federal court claiming violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for allegedly discharging contaminated stormwater into nearby navigable waters.

  • January 26, 2026

    High Court Wants Response From U.S. In Conn. Landowner’s Wetlands CWA Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a response from the United States to a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Connecticut farmland owner asking whether a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was correct in upholding a lower court’s ruling finding him liable for the remediation of his property after he violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by filling in protected wetlands without a permit.