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Case Updates
Vapor Intrusion: Lawsuit Accuses IBM of
Health & Property Damage from Migrating Toxic
Plume
On Jan. 3, 2008, more than
90 residents of upstate New York filed suit against IBM
claiming that over 1,000 people in neighboring
communities have been harmed by fumes and other toxins
that leaked from IBM’s Endicott, New York plant. The
suit accuses IBM of permeating the air with toxic fumes
and discharging industrial solvents that contaminated
the soil and groundwater, altogether causing birth
defects, cancers, and heart problems. For nearly 30
years, IBM has been working in the Endicott area to
clean up the contamination and has paid out a total of
$2.2 million to area residents for declines in property
values. The families seek compensation of over $100
million. IBM announced plans to vigorously defend the
suit. For more information about vapor intrusion
litigation, contact Gardere's
Environmental Team.
Download
Vapor Intrusion Article (PDF:54KB) .
Download
lawsuit (PDF:117KB)..
Link
to New York Times article about this
suit.
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Public
Nuisance Suit Filed Against 21 Investment Firms
Jan.15, 2008 -- Sending
shockwaves through the subprime market, the City of
Cleveland, Ohio filed suit against 21 major investment
banks, including Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill
Lynch and Wells Fargo, alleging the banks have enabled
the subprime lending and foreclosure crisis in
Cleveland.
Styled, City of Cleveland v.
Deutsche Bank Trust Company, et. al., the complaint
alleges a single cause of action – Public Nuisance – for
the banks’ “respective roles in proliferating toxic
subprime mortgages within its borders, under
circumstances that made the resulting spike in
foreclosures a foreseeable and inevitable result.”
Monitoring this development
closely are Gardere's Litigation Chair Richard
Faulk and partner John
Gray. Mr. Faulk and Mr. Gray serve as counsel for
the Coalition for Public Nuisance Fairness, an
organization of businesses in Washington, D.C., who
oppose abuse of the public nuisance cause of
action.
Mr. Faulk and Mr. Gray have strong
expertise in the field of public nuisance. They have
written and spoken on this subject in numerous forums,
and have filed amicus curiae briefs on the matter in
various courts around the country.
For more
information about public nuisance litigation, contact Gardere's
Environmental Team.
Link
to the Open Press Newswire Press
Release.
Link
to CNN Money article about this case.
Link
to the Cleveland Plain Dealer article about
this case.
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BP Defeats
$423 Million Class Action Suit
Jurors sided with BP in a
suit filed by the city of Neodesha, Kansas seeking $423
million in recovery and cleanup costs allegedly caused
by an oil refinery. The city of Neodesha alleged that BP
was liable for spills, breach of contract, and fraud.
The city lost on all counts. Residents of the small town
expressed shock after the jury’s verdict and stated that
their next move would be to ask for remediation between
BP and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
A BP spokesperson announced after the verdict that the
company intended to continue the cleanup at
Neodesha.
Link
to Downstream Today article about this case.
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Legislative/Rulemaking
States
Cannot Regulate Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards
A waiver request by the
state of California that would have allowed the state to
control greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light
trucks was rejected by the EPA. Instead, the EPA stated
that they plan to implement a nationwide fuel economy
standard that is included in the recently enacted energy
law. Under the new energy law, corporate average fuel
economy, or CAFÉ, standards are set to be increased to
35 miles per gallon by 2020 for cars and light trucks.
After the rejection, California filed suit against the
EPA and announced that the state intends to move as
quickly as possible to overturn this decision.
Link
to New York Times article about this
case.
Link
to White House press release on this issue.
Link to
Governor Schwarzenegger’s press release about this suit
against the EPA.
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FTC to
Evaluate How Carbon Offsets Are Spent
More than $54 million was
spent last year in carbon offset credits. However, the
FTC is questioning exactly how the money is being spent
and has called for public comments on how to update its
marketing guidelines. The environmental advertising
guidelines, called the Green Guides, were last revised
in 1998, however guidelines for marketing carbon offsets
or renewable energy certificates were not included in
the revision. Companies use offset programs to create an
environmentally-friendly image to the public. However,
the Commission is concerned that companies may be
misleading the public about the offsets, or
“greenwashing,” as environmentalists have defined
it.
Link
to FTC press release about this issue.
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W.R. Grace To
Pay $34 Million in Clean Up Costs
The EPA has reached a
settlement agreement with W.R. Grace for reimbursement
and future costs associated with 32 superfund sites in
18 states across the country. One of the superfund sites
is the R&H Oil / Tropicana site in San Antonio,
Texas. The proposed agreement was filed in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The EPA
filed claims to recover clean up costs in March 2003;
two years after W.R. Grace filed for bankruptcy
protection. This agreement excludes environmental claims
at two other W.R. Grace cites in Montreal and Baltimore.
Link
to San Antonio Business Journal article about
this settlement.
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Congress Approves $7.5 Billion for EPA
in 2008
A 2008 fiscal spending bill
that President Bush says he plans to sign will provide
the EPA with a budget of $7.5 billion for the year. The
total spending bill of $515.7 billion also included
funding for non-defense operations in the departments of
Energy and Interior and the Transportation
Department.
Download
EPA budget (PDF:3MB)
Link
to Enviro.BLR.Com article about the budget.
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Fruit Of
The Loom’s Insurer To Pay For Toxic Clean Up
American International
Specialty Lines Insurance Co. Inc. has agreed with the
EPA to pay $42.5 million to clean up contamination at
several sites previously owned by the now bankrupt Fruit
of the Loom. The payout resolves a lawsuit over
environmental coverage between the insurance company and
two trusts that were created when Fruit of the Loom
filed bankruptcy. All of the contaminated sites
were originally owned by Velsicol Chemical
Corporation.
Link
to EPA press release about this lawsuit.
Link
to Enviro.BLR.Com article about this
lawsuit.
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Other News
Bali
Conference Seeks to Share Burden of Emission Cuts
The climate change
pact made in Bali at the United Nations Conference
creates a departure from the Kyoto Protocol in that it
puts some of the burden of cutting emissions on
developing countries. This pact, however, stopped short
of actually obligating huge carbon emitting countries
like China to make cuts. The White House argued that the
U.S. economy could be hurt if major carbon emitters like
China and India were not also bound by emission caps.
Munir Akram, chairman of the Group of 77 that represents
developing countries, said that they will try to develop
a climate friendly development plan and hopes to do it
differently than the West.
For more information
on the impact climate change legislation contact Gardere’s
Environmental Team.
Download
Houston Business Journal Climate Change article
(PDF:140KB).
Download
Climate Change paper (PDF:1MB).
Link
to Environment News Service article.
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EU Plans to
Fine Auto Industry for Carbon Emissions
The European Commission has
published plans that would place hefty fines on
automakers that exceed carbon limits. The current
emissions limit is 130 grams of carbon dioxide per
kilometer or 7.4 ounces per mile. Under the proposed
plan, automakers could be fined by the amount that their
vehicle fleet exceeds this limit. The European
Automobile Manufacturers’ Association argues that the
fines are “totally disproportionate” and punitive.
Link
to New York Times article about this
issue.
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Department of Interior Grants $274
Million to Clean Up Abandoned Mines
More than twice the amount
of funds for cleaning up abandoned coal sites will be
distributed in 2008 than was distributed in 2007.
The Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining
Reclamation and Enforcement distributes the funds
through grants awarded to states and tribes under the
abandoned mine land program.
Link
to Herald-Dispatch article about these
funds.
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Illinois Chosen For Experimental
Coal-Fired Electric Plant
A $1.76 billion experimental
clean coal plant will be built in Mattoon, Illinois. The
plant will be designed to capture and store its carbon
emissions by turning the coal into gas. The gas will be
developed into two streams: a pure stream of hydrogen
that will be burned to make power, and a stream of
carbon dioxide that will be pumped underground instead
of released into the atmosphere. Both Texas and Illinois
competed for the project. The project, called FutureGen,
is expected to be operational by 2013.
Link
to Christian Science Monitor article.
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Dow
Surprised At EPA’s Abrupt End To Talks
Three months of negotiation
between the EPA and Dow over plans to clean up dioxin
contamination in Michigan ended days before the formal
deadline. Dow expressed surprise, disappointment, and
frustration at what it called an abrupt end to the
talks. The negotiations were over contamination in the
Tittabawasee River near Dow’s Midland, Michigan plant.
The EPA stated that Dow is not offering a deal that goes
far enough and that key issues remain unresolved. Dow
stated that it had planned to submit a follow-up offer
to its original submission.
Link
to EPA press release about these negotiations.
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