The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this staff editorial urging the Third Circuit to hear its ruling last month in McMunn v. Babcock & Wilcox Power. It says:

We hope the Third Circuit Court of Appeals will reconsider its decision to dismiss claims that a former nuclear plant in Apollo contributed to cancers among residents there. Of particular concern is that the ruling, as it stands, would virtually eliminate any chance for similar future claims against any other such plant because the victims of cancer didn’t “prove” their illnesses could be traced to emissions from the plant. “Proof” should be a matter for a trial and a jury, not a pre-trial review.

On Sunday the same paper ran this compelling story on the case by Mary Ann Thomas, headlined, “Apollo area residents involved in failed NUMEC nuke suit hope federal judges reconsider.” The story quotes Duquesne law professor Steven Baicker-McKee rightly observing that rehearing petitions are “always a heavy lift.”

I believe the odds of rehearing being granted here are quite remote (even more than usual), but the editorial and story do underscore Judge McKee’s concurring observation “stress[ing] that the law in this area is simply inadequate.”