The Eighth Circuit held that under Missouri law, an insurance company has no duty to defend a lead producer in an underlying lawsuit alleging environmental property damage resulting from the lead producer's mine and mill operations. The policy contained an absolute pollution exclusion clause, and he...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed as unripe a trade association's lawsuit challenging portions of a Federal Rail Administration (FRA) rule that requires qualifying rail carriers to submit an implementation plan to install a "positive train control" (PTC) system no later than December 31, 2015, on certain t...
A district court upheld the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS') decision to list styrene in its Twelfth Report on Carcinogens, which identifies agents, substances, mixtures, and exposure circumstances that are known or reasonably anticipated to cause cancer in humans. The report pro...
A district court dismissed with leave to amend environmental groups' lawsuit against EPA alleging that it violated the ESA by failing to undertake required consultations regarding the effects of 382 registered pesticides on endangered and threatened species. The groups seek a broad remedy—an injun...
A district court held that individual ingredients of hydraulic fracturing formulas are trade secrets and do not need to be publicly disclosed. The Wyoming Public Records Act does not define trade secrets, but the Wyoming oil and gas commission's policy for evaluating trade secrets is reasonable and ...
The Second Circuit held that an environmental group has standing to bring an action to compel FDA to finalize its regulation of triclosan, but not triclocarban, both of which are used in over-the-counter antiseptic antimicrobial soap. As to triclosan, standing may be based on exposure to a potential...
The Fifth Circuit held that Transocean's primary and excess-liability insurers must cover BP's pollution-related liabilities deriving from April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Under Texas law, the umbrella insurance policy—not the indemnity provisions of Transocean's and BP's contract—con...
The Fourth Circuit vacated a biological opinion the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) prepared as part of EPA's reregistration process for three pesticides—chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion. The biological opinion concluded that the pesticides would jeopardize the viability of certain P...
The Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's CWA, CERCLA, and EPCRA claims against BP and Transocean Ltd. following the Deepwater Horizon disaster. BP leased the mobile offshore drilling unit known as Deepwater Horizon from Transo...
A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision prohibiting the inclusion of styrene and vinyl acetate as possible carcinogens on the state's Proposition 65 list. The Proposition 65 list is limited to chemicals for which it has been determined, either by the Office of Environmental Heal...