Six-Year Hiatus Enough Of A Break To Require Separate Evaluation Of Duties For Jones Act Seaman Status
Posted on Aug 26, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, OSHA, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Six-Year Hiatus Enough Of A Break To Require Separate Evaluation Of Duties For Jones Act Seaman Status
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana held yesterday that a pipeline coating technician who was injured aboard a vessel involved in laying pipeline underneath the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain was a “seaman” for Jones Act purposes. The court rejected the employer’s argument that the worker was not a seaman for failing to meet the Jones Act’s temporal...
Coast Guard Proposes Inflation Increases To OPA Liability Limits
Posted on Aug 24, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Workplace Safety | Comments Off on Coast Guard Proposes Inflation Increases To OPA Liability Limits
The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) last week to carry out inflation adjustments to the limits of liability under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), 33 U.S.C. 2701, et seq. Under OPA, the responsible parties for any vessel (other than a public vessel) or facility (including any deepwater port or onshore facility) from which oil is discharged, or which...
Ninth Circuit Finds Environmental Organizations Have No Cause Of Action Against Rail yard Owners Under Resource Conservation And Recovery Act
Posted on Aug 20, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Transportation | Comments Off on Ninth Circuit Finds Environmental Organizations Have No Cause Of Action Against Rail yard Owners Under Resource Conservation And Recovery Act
Last week, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of an action filed by environmental organizations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) against certain rail yard owners, finding that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim because diesel emissions do not constitute “disposal of solid waste” under the RCRA. Plaintiffs sued the rail yard owners under...
Contractor On Well Site To Remove Drilling Rig Held Business Invitee Of Well Site Lessee Following Injury
Posted on Aug 20, 2014 in Energy/Environmental | Comments Off on Contractor On Well Site To Remove Drilling Rig Held Business Invitee Of Well Site Lessee Following Injury
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held that a well site lessee and its subsidiary can be held liable for negligence in connection with an independent contractor’s personal injury action. Specifically, the court found that the independent contractor, who was present at the well site at the time of his injuries, could be considered a business invitee for...
“Weak Safety Culture” And Ineffective Safety Management System Cited In Canadian Train Derailment Investigation Report
Posted on Aug 20, 2014 in Energy/Environmental, Investigations, Process Safety, Transportation | Comments Off on “Weak Safety Culture” And Ineffective Safety Management System Cited In Canadian Train Derailment Investigation Report
Yesterday, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its investigation report of the July 2013 derailment of a train carrying Bakken crude oil that exploded and killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The TSB report finds that 18 factors played a role in the accident, including that the rail company had a “weak safety culture” that contributed to the continuation of...
Eighth Circuit No Stranger To Lead Refinery Dispute
Posted on Aug 12, 2014 in Construction, Energy/Environmental | Comments Off on Eighth Circuit No Stranger To Lead Refinery Dispute
For the second time in the last hundred years, the Eighth Circuit last week had to decide a smelter-related dispute between the successor company to an owner of a massive Omaha lead refinery and smelter (the “petitioner”) and a railroad that leased the land (until the 1940s) on which the smelter operated. To quote the court’s opinion, “The history of this case is an archetypal tale of...
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