Tuesday, January 12, 2021
For the past three years, we have put forth the prediction that the PFAS litigation would evolve by expanding beyond lawsuits against PFAS manufacturers for personal injuries to lawsuits against manufacturing companies that utilize PFAS as a component of their products. This “next wave” of PFAS product liability cases would significantly impact business interests at an incredible financial magnitude and puts at risk corporate finances at levels that could cause significant business interruption. A signal that this “next wave” of products liability litigation may be here came late last week with the announcement that a product manufacturer settled a group of pending PFAS lawsuits – some of the damages going to environmental cleanup, but some of the damages going towards settlement with individuals for personal injury. This is an extremely significant PFAS development that deserves closer attention.
Jan. 12, 2021 3:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON The Environmental Protection Agency is creating higher barriers for regulating the emissions that contribute to climate change, setting new rules that effectively block the federal government from imposing new restrictions on several heavy industries.
The agency, which first introduced a proposal to create the higher bar in August, packaged these new standards in a rule making it issued Tuesday.
The rule, to be published in the Federal Register Wednesday, sets new criteria for what is considered a significant contributor of greenhouse-gas emissions.
In the rule the agency says that determination is required by law and finds that oil and gas producers, refiners, steelmakers and other heavy industries don’t meet the criteria, prohibiting the EPA from regulating their emissions under the Clean Air Act.
January 2021 862 Barcelò Hotel Group, a leading international hotel chain, has implemented its innovative sustainability business model across all properties in the region – through energy and water conservation, eco-friendly cleaning products, and overall waste reduction at the group’s varying properties, pioneered by the brand’s Occidental hotels. The Occidental properties, such as Occidental Dubai Production City, Occidental Sharjah Grand and the new Occidental Al Jaddaf set to open in February, have undertaken an impressive commitment to decrease their environmental impact and increase the sustainability of the services they offer. Ahmad Abi Oula, Director of Operations at Barceló Hotel Group, commentted: “Sustainability has always been a necessary focus for us and will continue to be so in the upcoming year. Occidental Al Jaddaf, scheduled to open in February 2021, has been designed to utilise solar panels to operate water heaters for energy conserva