Canadian Underwriter
News

Insurers should think beyond compliance and remediate fuel spills to pre-spill conditions: environmental lawyer


March 1, 2011   by Canadian Underwriter


Print this page Share

Insurers should consider the multiple benefits of remediating fuel spills to pre-spill conditions, even if new Canadian regulatory guidelines for handling and cleaning fuel spill sites apply to contaminated and Brownfield sites and not to domestic fuel spills.
John Tidball, environmental lawyer and partner at Miller Thomson, made the comments in response to online news coverage of proposed changes to clean-up standards in the Environmental Protection Act, as reported in Canadian Underwriter.
In its coverage, Canadian Underwriter cited Eric Zakrewski, president of True Grit Consulting Limited, as saying the Ministry of the Environment is encouraging insurers to follow proposed new guidelines, Soil, Groundwater and Sediment Standards for Use Under Part XV.1 of the Environmental Protection Act, prior to their implementation in July 2011.
The comment drew a response from Mark Samis, vice president of operations for Environmental Solutions Remediation Services, who noted a distinction between the clean-up obligations required under Part XV.1 of the act, which covers contaminated and Brownfield sites, and Part X of the act, which covers domestic fuel spills.
“As long as a domestic fuel spill remains onsite, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) has jurisdiction,” Samis said. “There is no legal obligation to remediate your own property, unless there is a risk to human health, off-site migration onto another property, a regulatory order has been issued against the property owner or the site is being redeveloped for a more sensitive land use.”
Tidball said he agreed with Samis. Nevertheless, he added: “In addition to legal compliance, insurers should consider other issues when approaching the remediation of a fuel spill.
“These include (1) the insurer’s contractual obligations to its insured, (2) minimizing exposure to changing regulatory standards and (3) eliminating long-tail liability associated with residual soil and groundwater contamination.”
Scott Pitsch, operations manager at DLS Group, said he has been advising his clients since 1996 to remediate to pre-spill conditions.
“As remediating to pre-spill conditions has been its routine approach to residential fuel spills, there will be no change to the DLS approach in July 2011 when the MOE standards change,” he said.


Print this page Share

Have your say:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*