Posted on November 12, 2012 by Robert M Olian
Those environmental lawyers who had a two- or three-day “vacation” due to Hurricane Sandy now return to the office to face a workload that will in many cases be trebled. First, there’s the work you didn’t get to when your office was closed and now has to be finished post-haste. Second, there’s the work that you would have been doing the next few days had there been no hurricane. And third, there’s the urgent work that you now have to help your clients assess new issues that are present precisely because of the storm.
Wind and water mobilize even structures, equipment and materials that were always meant to be stationary. Storage tanks, waste ponds, drums, hazardous materials and other previously contained environmental hazards have now been released, flooded, or overtopped, often releasing reportable quantities of material. Clients will need to quickly assess the nature and magnitude of releases at and from their facilities to determine their environmental obligations.
The prudent environmental lawyer will immediately begin working with clients to determine whether there are spills and releases that must be reported to federal, state and local environmental agencies. Potential liabilities may depend upon whether under the applicable laws “Act of God” is or is not a defense. Surprisingly, a major hurricane is not, in the eyes (pun intended) of some agencies interpreting some statutes, an Act of God. Clients also need to verify that their pollution control systems – wastewater treatment, air pollution, etc. – are functioning correctly post-storm, even if there were no reportable releases during the storm.
Clients are undoubtedly attuned to the need to submit insurance claims for business interruption and damage to their own property, but now is a good time to begin surveying what kinds of claims might be coming from neighbors and others damaged by releases from the client’s facility. This is particularly so given that we are nearing year-end and many policies no longer have “tails” for notices of claims received after the policy year has run.
Tags: environmental hazards, insurance, natural disasters, Superstorm Sandy
Air | CERCLA | Hazardous Materials | Stormwater | Toxic Substances | Natural Disasters