Environmental-and-pollution-insurance-do-you-need-it-
By Garris Thorntenson
If you are considering the purchase of a commercial property, the first thing you should do is check if it shows any signs of contamination by pollutants or toxic waste. The problems could be caused by contaminated soil, underground water or by the building itself. The worse case scenario causes problems and harm to the estates or properties nearby as well. If that happens, the property owners might find themselves having to pay for cleaning up of the pollutants which might add up to be much more than the market price of the property. The owners might also be facing penalties which they didn't know about earlier in compliance with environmental safety laws and rulings.

As the owner (or former owner), you could be responsible for contaminants that migrate to the neighboring properties. This includes personal injury and property damage that is caused by the release of pollutants (including emissions). So how do you ensure that your company is protected?

Since the environmental laws and regulations are still new, which most of them have been in place for less than 20 years, there always constant restructuring of the laws to keep-up with the latest development. Keeping up with the new regulations might be a burden for new players in the real estate market. Although there are hundreds of laws regarding the environmental aspect of commercial real estate market, only few are important in helping you understand the consequences of environmental penalties.

One of the most well-known and important laws is CERCLA, which stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, where it is passed as an official law in the year 1980. Another revised and improved version of CERCLA is SARA, which stands for Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act) where it was authorized in the year 1986. There are currently a few active funds in the world today where the money is intended to help pay for the clean-up costs of deserted commercial sites that are too contaminated to be used and to cover the liability costs of the owner of the property.

If you think a new policy may be too costly or simply doesn’t make economic sense, be sure to review your current Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies. Precedent in recent court decisions have sometimes found the CGL covers or environmental accidents, even though the policy was not intended to cover or environmental accidents. This has caused most new CGL policies to

amend and exclude coverage for and environmental accidents.

Within the last few years, insurance companies have begun developing policies specifically designed to provide environmental coverage in regards to or contamination. Some of these policies include: Providing coverage for certain types of on-site clean-ups, Property damage to personal property of third parties and bodily injuries, Clean-up costs for third party claims beyond the boundaries of the insured site and coverage for non-owned site cleanup costs, and third party claims arising from transportation of product or waste by vendors causing conditions.

The insurance firms have also developed special insurance policies for companies which are thinking of investing in brownfield sites. The term "brownfield" refers to commercial estates which are not developed even though they are considered commercial sites because of excessive contamination and in the area. Without such policies, these sites will go undeveloped as developers may not necessarily want to take such high risks which may result in lawsuits relating to environmental issues.

In order to cut down the risks involved, check with the local authorities regarding the laws and regulations regarding the and environment concerning commercially run estates. Take note on your potential accountability in financial terms and also the legal requirements if something should happen to the buildings and estates near your property. If you find the law decree hard to understand always seek help from a lawyer who is well versed in the field of environmental laws. By acquiring the necessary knowledge, you can then decide if you need to purchase an environmental insurance for your property.

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

About the Author:
Garris Thorntenson
As a contractor, Garris Thorntenson always go for construction liability insurance as he knows that appropriate coverage will protect him from possible lawsuits. One of the must haves according to him is the contractors insurance and he suggests going to J6 insurance for their expertise in this very field. For more information about please visit http://www.j6insurance.com