New York Paralegal Blog

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood announced her intent to challenge the Trump administration’s illegal and environmentally-destructive plan to roll back federal limits on tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks, if the proposed rule released today is finalized.

WASHINGTON – In a settlement valued at more than $1.7 million, Clean Harbors of Braintree Inc. has agreed to pay a significant penalty and perform additional projects, to settle a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding numerous violations of hazardous waste management and emergency planning laws at the company’s Braintree, Mass., facility.

WASHINGTON – The Dow Chemical Company has agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty to settle alleged violations of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Michigan, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.

WASHINGTON – Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.55 million civil penalty to settle alleged Clean Air Act violations for shipping more than 590,000 highway and non-road engines without the correct emissions controls, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today.   Caterpillar also allegedly failed to comply with emission control reporting and engine-labeling requirements.   Engines operating without proper emissions controls can emit excess nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter and other air pollutants that impact people’s health, potentially causing respiratory illnesses and aggravating asthma.  

WASHINGTON – Three Colorado-based gasoline distributors have agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve claims that they illegally mixed and distributed more than one million gallons of gasoline that did not meet Clean Air Act emissions and fuel quality requirements. The settlement with Rocky Mountain Pipeline System LLC, Western Convenience Stores Inc. and Offen Petroleum Inc., was filed in federal court in Denver today, announced the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Use of gasoline that does not meet the Clean Air Act’s standards for fuel can result in increased emissions from car tailpipes, affect vehicle performance, and in some cases can damage engines and emissions controls. The settling companies will pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and conduct an environmental project designed to offset the harm EPA alleges was caused by their failure to meet federal gasoline quality requirements. “Providing and distributing gasoline that fails to...

WASHINGTON – Wajdi Waked, 25, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty today before Judge Philip M. Pro of the U.S. District Court in Nevada, to one count of violating the Clean Air Act by falsifying emissions test results. A grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Waked in January of 2010. Waked was one of nine other defendants, all at different testing locations, accused of similarly submitting false tests to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (NDMV). The cases came to the attention of Nevada authorities in 2008 when the NDMV hired a contractor to build a vehicle identification database to find possible emissions testing fraud. NDMV discovered that in 2008 alone, there were over 4,000 false vehicle emissions certificates issued in Las Vegas. The database allows investigators to check the vehicle identification number that the emissions tester enters against the vehicle actually tested. Las Vegas and surrounding Clark County is required by the EPA to have emissions testing because the area ...

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that P4 Production LLC, a mining and phosphorus processing company wholly-owned by Monsanto and operating near Soda Springs in southeast Idaho, has agreed to pay a $1.4 million civil penalty for alleged Clean Water Act violations at its South Rasmussen Mine. In addition to the penalty, P4 will spend an estimated $875,000 on monitoring and to prevent pollutants from entering local waters. “The Justice Department and the EPA are committed to enforcing the Clean Water Act to reduce pollution from mining and mineral processing operations,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “Clean water is essential for human health, as well as for healthy livestock, fish and wildlife. Today’s settlement agreement will make Idaho’s waters cleaner by preventing selenium and other hazardous pollutants gen...

WASHINGTON – Terra Industries Inc., one of the nation’s largest producers of nitric acid and nitrogen fertilizers, has agreed to pay $625,000 in civil penalties to settle alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at nine of its plants in Iowa, Mississippi and Oklahoma, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today. As part of the settlement, Terra will also spend an estimated $17 million to install and implement new controls and technologies that are expected to reduce harmful nitrogen oxide emissions at its facilities by at least 1,200 tons per year. “This agreement will require Terra Industries to make important improvements in pollution control technology at nine acid-producing facilities that will result in cleaner and healthier air for the benefit of communities in Iowa, Mississippi and Oklahoma,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. ...

This afternoon the President congratulated the winners of the proud three-way rivalry between the Army, Navy and Air Force Academy football teams. Noting the presence of Superintendent of the Air Force Academy, Lieutenant General Michael Gould, and the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Norton Schwartz, he gave all appropriate respect to the players who serve their country: Most of all, though, I want to congratulate the cadets who are standing behind me. Until this year, no one on this team knew what it felt like to beat Army, to beat Navy, to visit the White House, and to earn football bragging rights over the other branches. Now you know the feeling. (Applause.) They also know what it feels like not just to be a good service academy team, but to be a good team, period. Put up 350 rushing yards against Oklahoma. Finished 9-4 after what Coach Calhoun called the toughest schedule a service academy ever played. And to cap it all off, to win in a bowl game against Georgia Tech...

ALEXANDRIA , Va. – United Air Temp / Air Conditioning & Heating, Inc., located in Lorton, Va., violated federal law by discriminating against non-Caucasian employees based on their race by paying them less than at least one Caucasian colleague, the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. United Air Temp, which provides preventive maintenance for residential and commercial heating and air conditioning systems, has approximately 247 employees at 13 locations within Florida, Georgia, the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and Maryland. According to the EEOC’s complaint, from around Feb. 1, 2001, until around April 20, 2006, Patricia Burch, who is African-American, and other non-Caucasian telemarketers were paid less than a Caucasian telemarketer because of their race. The lawsuit alleges that Burch was one of ten telemarketers employed by United Air Temp in Lorton. According to the EEOC, a Caucasian telemarketer who performed the same job...