Author Archives: Kurt Niland

EPA voices serious objections to TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline

Posted: May 3, 2013 Environmental

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an Environmental Impact assessment of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone Pipeline XL project, sharply criticizing the State Department’s own recent environmental review of the plan. If allowed to proceed, the $7-billion pipeline would transport millions of

Scientists link insect population decline in Gulf wetlands to BP oil spill

Posted: May 2, 2013 Environmental

Spiders and insect populations are declining in Louisiana’s coastal marshes and other wetlands along the Gulf Coast, and scientists believe BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill is the culprit. The findings may signal the early stages of a broader, deeper

Toxic chemical use in chicken plants set to rise, posing serious health risks to workers, public

Posted: May 1, 2013 Product Liability

With U.S. chicken consumption rising steadily, poultry processing plants nationwide are poised to implement changes that will injure and sicken many workers. Instead of meeting rising demand by expanding facilities and hiring additional workers, the poultry processing industry is poised

One dead after two Cessna planes collide in midair over Los Angeles

Posted: April 30, 2013 Personal Injury

One person has died after two Cessna 172 planes collided in mid-air Monday afternoon over Southern California. One of the airplanes crash landed on the third hole at Westlakes Golf Course in Westlakes, Calif., while the other craft plummeted into

Gulf residents, ecology facing deadly aftershocks of BP’s oil spill cover-up

Posted: April 28, 2013 Environmental

Nearly three years after BP doused its monstrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill with Corexit oil dispersants, the media has finally started to report on just how dangerous the chemicals, which are meant to break oil down into tiny particles for

17-state salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers

Posted: April 27, 2013 Personal Injury

An outbreak of salmonella illnesses in 18 states has been traced to cucumbers from two suppliers in Mexico, federal health authorities say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there are 73 confirmed illnesses linked to eating

Florida sues BP and Halliburton for $5.5 billion over oil spill damages

Posted: April 26, 2013 Environmental

The State of Florida filed a lawsuit against BP and some of its affiliated companies last week on the third anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 workers and turned much of the northern Gulf of Mexico into

Fuel barges explode “like bombs” on Mobile River, three critically injured

Posted: April 25, 2013 Personal Injury

MOBILE, Ala. - A series of fiery explosions rocked the Mobile area Wednesday night after two barges laden with natural gas caught fire in the Mobile River, injuring three people.

Rescuers pull out two workers buried by trench cave-in

Posted: April 25, 2013 Personal Injury

HOPE HULL, ALA–Two excavation workers were trapped several feet underground when the walls of a trench they were constructing caved in Wednesday afternoon.

New Toyota sudden acceleration lawsuit blames electronic throttle for horrific crash

Posted: April 25, 2013 Motor Vehicles

A lawyer representing the family of a woman who died when her 2009 Toyota Camry sped out of control and sank into a California River hopes the case will be tried as a bellwether case ahead of about a hundred