Many various industries have exposures to pollution risk. Some, like recycling, manufacturing, or a gas station, have obvious sources of potential pollutants. Others, like an owner of vacant land, or an educational facility, or a self storage warehouse, may not immediately spring to mind, but they do exist.
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- Manufacturers produce products. Environmental exposure can result from the release, escape or dispersal of pollutants, or contamination of water, soil and air due to product damage or defects. Many General Liability and Product Liability insurance policies deny coverage for cleanup, bodily injury and property damage and defense arising from the discharge of pollutants from a product.
- An oil pipe burst in a school's boiler room. Around 1800 gallons of heating oil seeped into the floor drain and into a storm basin. A heavy rain caused the spill to flow downhill into a hospital parking lot and a playground. The estimated cost to clean up the oil spill was over $1,000,000.
- A self storage facility repossessed a storage unit for nonpayment. After opening the unit, the facility found drums of hazardous material. The renter could not be found, so the owner of the storage facility was required to pay for the disposal of the drums.
- During excavation and dewatering activities on a previously undeveloped parcel of land, contaminated groundwater was discovered. State regulatory authorities required the property owner to collect, test and treat groundwater pumped out during the excavation process. Contaminated soils were also discovered at the site, and it was determined that the contamination had migrated from a nearby manufacturing facility from several years prior to the development project. This caused construction delays and additional expenses, totaling over $1 million for the land owner.