Environmental Insurance - Strengthen Your Emergency Preparedness

Environmental insurance is a written contract which transfers certain risks associated with environmental exposures from the responsible party to an insurance carrier. 

With coverages available for cleanup, bodily injury, and/or property damage, environmental insurance is an integral part of comprehensive risk management. This type of insurance allows property owners, operators, buyers or sellers to mitigate the environmental risks associated with ownership or operation of a single facility or a portfolio of facilities. Coverage is also available for non-owned waste disposal sites, contracting operations, transportation exposures, impacts to natural resources, business interruption, mold/microbial matter, legionnaires disease, methamphetamine labs, and illicit abandonment of waste.

Insurance policies can be tailored to meet regulatory, contract, lender, landlord or shareholder requirements. For example, RCRA requires companies engaged in solid waste management to evidence financial responsibility to operate such facilities or units; environmental insurance can satisfy this regulatory requirement. 

When accidental releases result in pollution conditions, a company's emergency planning and training still may not prevent a pollution event from causing serious damage to the surrounding community and environment. Furthermore, being the responsible party over a pollution release can severely impact a company's financial reserves and shareholder outlook.