Last year, a commercial diver hired to assist with a National Park Service project to restore the Point Reyes National Seashore in California filed suit against two companies hired to complete the restoration. Matthew Zugsberger made several claims against the companies, including general maritime law claims for maintenance and cure, negligence, wrongful termination, fraud, and labor claims. In September, a court ruled on the maintenance and cure claims, finding that Zugsberger must be compensated for injuries incurred during the project.
The twenty-one plaintiffs in the case of Miller v. D.C. Water and Sewer Authority are D.C. residents who had what a federal judge called “the distinct misfortune” of living on Delafield Place in November of 2016. At that time, the basements of each of the plaintiffs’ single-family homes were filled with more than two feet of raw sewage, including industrial and commercial waste. Plaintiffs described the eruption of sewage from their basement toilets as “overwhelming,” “nauseating,” and “terrifying.”
On November 14, the United States Senate passed the “Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018” by almost unanimous vote. The bill will now move to the House of Representatives for reconciliation, where it is expected to pass.
On October 22, the court for the Western District of Louisiana denied a motion for summary judgment in Carline Fisheries. v. Vector Disease Control (No. 6:16-1506, 2018 BL 389535 (W.D. La. Oct. 22, 2018)). According to the aquaculturist plaintiffs in this case, Vector Disease Control (“Vector”), a pesticide spraying company, caused the deaths of numerous farmed crawfish when it aerially sprayed the insecticide Permanone over portions of Iberia Parish in November 2015, as part of an effort to control local mosquito populations.
Issues with the nation’s drinking water have continued to be in the news of late. In the U.S., drinking water is regulated on the federal level by the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The SDWA aims to ensure the quality of Americans' drinking water and authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national standards for drinking water to protect against health effects from exposure to naturally-occurring and man-made contaminants.
When Hurricane Michael made landfall on October 10, 2018, it claimed nearly forty lives across four states, and its aftermath continues to claim the livelihood of oystermen in Apalachicola, Florida. The town and bay of the same name are historically famed for their oysters, which once made up 90% of the wild caught oysters in Florida and 10% in the nation. Oil spill pollution, a drought, and a water use dispute decimated the native oysters in recent years, leading to a shift to aquaculture.
