Insurer won’t cover fracking damage

Insurer won’t cover fracking damage

ALBANY, N.Y.

National Casualty Company, part of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, says it won’t cover damage related to hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — for natural gas and oil.

Nationwide spokeswoman Nancy Smeltzer said Thursday that the company’s personal and commercial insurance policies “were not designed to cover any kind of fracking risk.”

Health and environmental groups claim fracking poses numerous risks, including potential drinking-water contamination. The process injects millions of gallons of chemically treated water into a well to fracture shale thousands of feet underground and release trapped gas or oil. The industry and state regulators say it’s safe if done properly.

Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide says risks involved in fracking operations “are too great to ignore” and apply to policies of commercial contractors and landowners who lease property to gas companies.

Court tosses suit over ATM fees

SAN FRANCISCO

A federal appeals court has tossed out a lawsuit claiming that banks illegally conspired to fix the fees noncustomers are charged to get cash from ATMs.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that consumers don’t have standing to file the lawsuit since they don’t directly pay the fees at issue.

The lawsuit alleged banks colluded to set the so-called “interchange fees” that banks charge one another for foreign ATM transactions.

The customers alleged in the lawsuit that banks artificially inflated the fee for using a foreign ATM when they passed along the charge to customers.

A three-judge appeals court panel unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that tossed out the lawsuit filed against Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and others.

NBC launches apps to watch Olympics

NEW YORK

NBC launched two mobile apps that will let people watch Olympics events as they happen, look up athlete profiles and access other extra content on their iPads, iPhones and certain Android devices.

NBC said that most of the content will be available only to pay-TV subscribers who have MSNBC and CNBC as part of their service. The apps — NBC Olympics and NBC Olympics Live — are free to download and were available starting Thursday.

The apps were created by Adobe Systems Inc. Adobe said NBC will receive analysis about how people interact with the content and ads on the apps. Users will be able to set reminders for their favorite events, record, pause or watch clips later, and switch between camera views while they watch, said Jeremy Helfand, vice president of monetization at Adobe.

NBC said this is the first time that all the Olympic events, more than 3,500 hours of coverage, will be available on smartphone and tablet computers. The 2012 Olympics will begin July 27 with the official opening ceremony in London.

Associated Press