Almost eight months into the new administration, the federal government has slashed staffing at the Environmental Protection Agency and begun unwinding both recent and long-standing environmental rules. Policyholders and carriers see the regulatory pullback from pollution and other standards as bringing immediate benefits and long-term uncertainty.
Pollution claims have largely emerged from historic commercial general liability policies written before the mid-1980s, when an absolute pollution exclusion became the industry standard, and subsequent pollution risk policies, said Max H. Stern of Duane Morris.
“Very likely, we’ll see a decrease in new claims being made with a major reduction in environmental enforcement, and that will be helpful to the pollution liability insurance market because they’re just going to have less risk,” he told Law360. Read the full article on the Law360 website.