Tag: Civil Penalty

Union Carbide Seeks Water Pollution Permit For Site In Court Case

Union Carbide applied to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit for its Massey Railyard. 

Union Carbide has sought a water pollution permit for a facility in South Charleston where the company has been in federal court for several years.

Union Carbide applied to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit for its Massey Railyard. 

The application, dated June 26, was filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston in an ongoing lawsuit against Union Carbide by the Courtland Co., which owns property in South Charleston.

Courtland first filed suit against Union Carbide in 2018 over water pollution from the Massey Railyard and the adjacent Filmont Landfill. In its latest filing, Union Carbide indicated it also will submit a permit application for the landfill.

Senior Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. ruled last year that the landfill was an illegal open dump and that Union Carbide violated the Clean Water Act by not seeking permits under federal law.

Courtland seeks civil penalties of $1.4 billion. Copenhaver has yet to issue a ruling. Union Carbide is pursuing a voluntary remediation of the Filmont site with state regulators. The site was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund database in 2022.

Union Carbide’s application for Massey has been submitted to WVDEP, and the company plans to submit another one for Filmont. At some point, the state agency will publish the applications and accept public comment.

The eight-acre Massey site discharges an average of nearly 15,000 gallons of runoff per day, according to the application. The application includes a long list of pollutants. Union Carbide checked a box that says “all not present.”

It also asks whether the application is for a “new facility.” Union Carbide checked “yes,” even though the railyard has been active since the 1960s. Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, and WVDEP did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

East Palestine Settlement Includes Safety Rules In Stalled Senate Bill

As part of the settlement, Norfolk Southern is required to make safety improvements that were in a bill the Senate Commerce Committee approved last year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department announced Thursday a $310 million settlement with Norfolk Southern over the train derailment last year in East Palestine, Ohio.

As part of the settlement, Norfolk Southern is required to make safety improvements that were in a bill the Senate Commerce Committee approved last year.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who voted against the bill in committee, said she didn’t expect it to become law. However, she said lawmakers could still make changes.

“But I’m not saying there aren’t improvements still to be made, because there certainly are,” she said. “So we’re going to look and see how this impacts that bill and then move on.”

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release its report on the derailment next month.

The settlement includes a $15 million civil penalty under the Clean Water Act. To put that in perspective, the Federal Railroad Administration collected $15.6 million in fiscal year 2023 for all railroads, including Norfolk Southern.

The agency does not break down how much in civil penalties were attributed to specific violations, including any in East Palestine.

EPA Lists Union Carbide South Charleston Landfill As Superfund Site

An ongoing case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia will determine whether Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, will pay civil penalties.

This is a developing story and may be updated. The original story misstated the number of National Priorities List sites in West Virginia. It has been corrected.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has listed a closed Union Carbide landfill in South Charleston as a Superfund site, joining some of the most contaminated places in the country.

An ongoing case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia will determine whether Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, will pay civil penalties.

Courtland, a property owner that sued Union Carbide, is seeking a $1.4 billion civil penalty against the company over pollution resulting from the dumping of toxic material. Courtland also has sought an injunction from the court that would put the cleanup under EPA supervision.

The Courtland and Union Carbide Filmont sites are directly beside Davis Creek and close to where the creek enters the Kanawha River.

Illustration by Eric Douglas

Last year, Senior Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. found that the site, called the Filmont landfill, was an illegal open dump under federal law. He also found that Union Carbide violated the Clean Water Act by failing to seek a stormwater discharge permit for the facility.

Copenhaver dismissed two of Courtland’s four lawsuits against Union Carbide.

Last month, Union Carbide asked Copenhaver to reject the civil penalty and the injunction. 

The company has said it’s pursuing a voluntary remediation with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that would achieve the same goals as an EPA-supervised cleanup and would take less time to complete.

Pat McGinley, a law professor at West Virginia University who specializes in environmental law, said the Superfund listing could affect the outcome of the case.

“It brings EPA into the process of determining the appropriate remedial action,” he said, “obviously not what the defendant prefers.”

In a court filing dated April 30, Mike Callaghan, an attorney for Courtland, noted that the Superfund listing did not place the Filmont site on the National Priorities List. That list currently includes 1,340 of the most polluted sites across the country. Eleven are in West Virginia.

However, Callaghan noted that the EPA intends to conduct a preliminary assessment on the site, where Union Carbide had dumped various contaminants from the 1950s to the 1980s. 

“Counsel is further exploring the significance of this site being listed under EPA’s Superfund Site Information and the impacts that may have on this litigation,” Callaghan wrote.

The Superfund program was created by Congress in 1980 after one of the most famous toxic sites in U.S. history, the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York. 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting has asked Union Carbide, the EPA’s Region 3 office and the WVDEP for comment.

Judge Holds Justice Coal Company In Civil Contempt, Threatens Fine

Southern Coal did not comply with a September court order to repay a Charleston insurance company more than $500,000 in workers’ compensation claims.

A federal judge has held a coal company owned by the Justice family in civil contempt.

Southern Coal did not comply with a September court order to repay a Charleston insurance company more than $500,000 in workers’ compensation claims.

So Judge Elizabeth Dillon of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, earlier this week gave Southern Coal seven days to repay BrickStreet Mutual Insurance.

After that, Southern Coal will have to pay a penalty of $2,500 for every day it does not comply.

“It is well-settled that the imposition of a daily fine to coerce a party into complying with a court’s order is within a district court’s civil contempt power,” Dillon’s ruling said. “As requested by BrickStreet, and there being no opposition by Southern Coal, the court will also order Southern Coal to pay BrickStreet’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in pursuing this remedy.”

Southern Coal is one of the numerous companies the Justice Family owns. Southern Coal argued that it was unable to comply with the court’s September order because the company is insolvent.

Dillon noted in her ruling that Southern Coal had provided no evidence that it had no ability to repay BrickStreet other than simply saying it couldn’t.

“Here, Southern Coal has not affirmatively produced evidence that it is presently unable to comply with the Final Order other than the conclusory assertion that it has ‘no present ability to pay and comply with the Court’s judgment order,’” Dillon’s ruling said.

Justice’s companies are involved in multiple active cases in the Western District of Virginia both as plaintiffs and defendants. The companies owe creditors tens of millions of dollars. The lenders have sought to seize property, including resorts and a helicopter.

Southern Coal and many other Justice family companies are headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. Gov. Jim Justice is a Republican U.S. Senate candidate this year.

Next Phase In Federal Trial Will Determine Penalties For Union Carbide

The maximum penalty Union Carbide would pay for violating the Clean Water Act at a landfill it owns in South Charleston: $64,618 per violation per day.

A five year federal court case involving Union Carbide is moving into the next phase, and the company could have to pay pay a steep civil penalty.

The maximum penalty Union Carbide would pay for violating the Clean Water Act at a landfill it owns in South Charleston: $64,618 per violation per day.

In late September, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled that the company has been in violation of the federal law since 2015. A landfill that discharges stormwater into navigable U.S. waterways must seek a permit under the Clean Water Act.

Union Carbide sought no such permit for the Filmont Landfill. The site is adjacent to Davis Creek, a tributary of the Kanawha River.

Union Carbide operated the landfill for about 30 years, but its existence wasn’t widely known until a 2018 lawsuit in federal court in Charleston.

The court also determined the Filmont Landfill was an illegal open dump under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Union Carbide and Courtland Co., the plaintiff in the case, may both have to pay costs related to the cleanup of the site. Courtland’s South Charleston property is adjacent to Union Carbide’s.

The court will ultimately determine what penalty Union Carbide will pay, but added together, one violation over eight years could cost more than $188 million.

Union Carbide and Courtland will bring in expert witnesses to determine how many of those days Union Carbide was in violation.

Courtland has requested that the penalty phase of the trial take place in April 2024. The trial will determine other costs, including legal fees.

Union Carbide is a subsidiary of Dow Chemical.

Justice Company Could Face Clean Water Act Lawsuit

Bluestone Coke is one of the numerous companies owned by the family of Justice, who’s running for the U.S. Senate.

An environmental group has threatened to sue a company owned by the family of Gov. Jim Justice over water pollution violations.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has told Bluestone Coke it will bring a lawsuit in federal court under the Clean Water Act unless the company cleans up pollution from its plant in North Birmingham, Alabama.

Bluestone Coke is one of the numerous companies owned by the family of Justice, who’s running for the U.S. Senate. 

The plant is not currently in operation. Late last year, Bluestone Coke agreed to a $925,000 settlement with the local health department over air pollution from the plant.

The Southern Environmental Law Center said the company still owes $283,000 to the health department.

The U.S. Justice Department recently took action against the Justice companies for failing to pay more than $5 million in federal civil penalties.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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