EPA Can Inspect Ship for Chemicals, Court Rules
Recent Cases
The Environmental Protection Agency can inspect a former U.S. Navy hospital ship for toxic chemicals, the 4th circuit ruled.
The EPA was issued a warrant under the Toxic Substances Control Act to board the M/V Sanctuary, built in 1944, to test for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which may lead to reproductive and developmental problems.
Potomac Navigation Inc. bought the ship for $50,000 at a court-ordered auction in 2007, with plans to use it for storage or as a hotel platform, but ship recycling consultant Polly Parks warned that ship buyers often sell PCB laden ships to third-world countries for a "huge profit on the scrap metal market," the ruling states.
Environmental group Basel Action Network intervened before Potomac had a chance to move the ship offshore, saying the possible presence of PCBs on the vessel demanded that it remain at the Baltimore pier under the Act's export clause. As a result, the district court ordered the ship to stay docked.
Potomac argued that the ship was exempt from the Act's regulations because it was not intended for commerce, but could not prove that PCBs "were not distributed in commerce before the ship was built," Judge Michael wrote.
The appeals court said that the export concern was "immaterial" to finding probable cause, because sampling and research data showed that there were likely PCBs on the ship, prompting an EPA inspection. A ship recycling firm that considered bidding on the Sanctuary had already confirmed the presence of PCBs, the ruling states, finding four out of five paint samples contained PCBs in concentrations greater than 50 parts per million.
The three-judge panel found that public health interests outweighed the possible economic loss of the ship, and encouraged the EPA to either determine if possible PCBs were "totally enclosed," as required by the Act, or call for proper disposal.
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Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?
If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.
Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.
If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases.
If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.
Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.