Increased enforcement of existing environmental regulations in the United States is not the only trend that should have risk managers in a wide range of industries re-examining environmental risks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has its sights on areas that it never regulated before, including stormwater runoff from diffuse sources such as agricultural sources and municipal parking lots, and 90 new contaminants. Beyond enforcing Superfund more rigorously-adding sites to the National Priorities List (NPL) at a pace not seen in more than a decade--cleaning up water and air pollution has become a rallying cry for the EPA.
In Europe, EU member nations are slowly working to implement the Environmental Liability Directive--one country at a time-subjecting heavy industrial businesses to a strict liability standard for pollution events, and holding businesses in other industries accountable under a negligence standard.
The time is now to get ahead of the regulatory curve-in the United States and outside U.S. borders.
This special webinar examines how and where regulators are targeting traditional environmental risks and new ones, as well as the role of insurance and local claims specialists around the globe.
Register for this free one hour webinar sponsored by ACE at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/417503928
Right now, there are more than 3,460 new environmental regulations awaiting attention from legislators and regulators around the globe. Some touch on areas of environmental policy in air, water and land use that are well established, but others break new ground and posit new powers for pollution prevention, control and remediation.
In addition to new initiatives, increased attention is also being paid to measures already on the books. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has the largest budget in decades. Every week brings a steady stream of announcements from the EPA's enforcement arm of lawsuits, indictments and fines levied over environmental violations.
The EPA is not just acting on familiar fronts with settlements under the Superfund program. In addition, the federal agency is bringing more unusual actions, giving pause to risk managers in a broad range of industries. An Alaska-based seafood company fined $2.5 million to resolve Clean Water Act violations and compelled to spend more than $30 million to upgrade its processing plants provides an example. The EPA argued successfully that waste from the company's operations depleted oxygen in the adjacent waters, creating condition that made them unsuitable habitats for fish and other water organisms.
Outside the United States, pressure to improve the environmental quality of life is coming from a growing middle class in Latin American countries like Brazil and Chile. And in China, even a non-governmental organization has pressured the likes of Apple, General Electric and Nike to address pollution caused by their suppliers.
Across Europe, new environmental rules are being implemented and enforced at varying speeds, impacting industries beyond those with heavy smokestacks. The single biggest issue driving demand for environmental insurance coverage outside the United States is the Environmental Liability Directive, which was approved by the European Parliament back in 2004. Even though compulsory insurance requirements are developing slowly in Europe, member nations of the European Union are working to implement the ELD. One by one, the EU nations are subjecting heavy industrial businesses to a strict liability standard for pollution events, and holding businesses in other industries accountable under as negligence standard. New terms like “biodiversity damage” and “complementary remediation” are creeping into the lexicon of risk managers and insurance professionals courtesy of the ELD.
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