Archive

December 10, 2015

New Jersey announced that Accutest Laboratories would pay the State $2 million to resolve allegations that it deviated from both federal and state requirements for the extraction and testing of certain compounds, thereby submitting false claims to the State and its agencies for payment. The State and its agencies – including the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – had contracted with Accutest to perform a variety of environmental tests in its extraction laboratory. The allegations central to today’s settlement flow from a federal qui tam or “whistleblower” lawsuit filed two years prior by a former Accutest employee, Koroush Vaziri. The New Jersey Attorney General said that the settlement was the largest non-Medicaid-related False Claims Act settlement entered into by the State since New Jersey’s False Claims Act took effect in March 2008. NJ

November 3, 2015

In a consent judgment, Hess Corporation has agreed to pay $4.4 million over allegations that it illegally obtained reimbursements from a Massachusetts state fund for environmental cleanup projects at dozens of gasoline service stations throughout the state. The complaint alleged that Hess submitted reimbursement applications to the Massachusetts Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Product Cleanup Fund program (UST Fund) with false certifications in that they failed to disclose the companies’ insurance claims, and therefore were not in compliance with applicable regulations. MA

May 13, 2015

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced a $75 million settlement with Enbridge Energy over the July 2010 Line 6B spill that sent more than 800,000 gallons of oil into Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River from a pipeline owned and operated by Enbridge. MI

May 7, 2015

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced an $11.5 million settlement with Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips to resolve allegations they violated state laws governing the proper operation and maintenance of underground storage tanks used to store gasoline for retail sale. The companies failed to comply with hazardous materials and hazardous waste laws at over 560 gasoline stations owned or operated by the companies in the state of California. CA

April 29, 2015

Lehigh Cement agreed to pay $7.5 million to resolve allegations it violated the Clean Water Act by discharging millions of gallons daily of quarry process water and stormwater polluted with thousands of pounds of sediment, and hundreds of pounds of selenium and other toxic metals, into Permanente Creek, a tributary to San Francisco Bay. CA

March 5, 2015

Acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced that ExxonMobil agreed to pay the State $225 million to resolve its liability for damage to the environment and injury to natural resources caused by contamination from its refinery operations in Bayonne and Linden, as well as from company service stations and other facilities located throughout New Jersey. NJ

March 2, 2015

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a lawsuit against BP Inc. for wrongfully obtaining more than $33.3 million in reimbursement to clean up leaks from BP-owned underground storage tanks in Ohio. The state alleges that BP knowingly “double dipped” — taking money both from insurers and the Petroleum Board fund that comes from fees paid by the owners of underground storage tanks, such as gas station owners — to cover the cost of correcting accidental leaks from underground storage tanks at hundreds of BP gas stations throughout Ohio. OH

December 23, 2014

Environmental services company National Water Main Cleaning Co. agreed to pay more than $650,000 to resolve claims it violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act by submitting false bills and records on multiple public contracts for sewer, storage tank and catch basin cleaning, maintenance and repair, and illegally discharged sewage and wastewater. The complaint also alleges the company violated the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act by discharging sewage and wastewater into the waters of the Commonwealth without a valid permit. MA

November 20, 2014

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O’Malley announced a settlement with AT&T to resolve allegations that hundreds of AT&T’s California facilities unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste and material over a nine-year period. As part of the settlement, AT&T will pay $23.8M million and spend an additional $28M over the next five years to implement the enhanced environmental compliance measures required by the settlement. CA