I am working on acquiring a brownfield for a client (old shopping plaza that had included a dry cleaner), and am looking into environmental insurance options. I haven't worked with environmental insurance policies in the past, and was wondering if anyone had any experience with them. What type of coverage should I be looking for? Is a policy so expensive so as to be prohibitive? If contamination is found on the site, does the policy pay out easily? My client would like some protection, and I would like to make sure the expense of one of these types of policies would work to his benefit.

Thanks in advance.

Cherman - Not sure if you are still interested in this coverage - but I found out about your post from this most recent BLR News release.  I work for the environmental practice of Marsh and would be happy to help you weed through the maze of what your client might need.  The type of coverage that you should be looking for is called pollution liability insurance (or fixed site environmental coverage) - also called PLL or EIL insurance.  This type of insurance provides coverage for bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs in the event of an unforeseen pollution event (it is not coverage for a known pollution event - there are other products that will address known conditions).

These policies are not typically expensive - especially nowadays as there are a number of carriers that provide this coverage - including a new one that just started to write coverage about a month ago - so there is a lot of competition right now!  If contamination is found at a site - these policies typically do pay - however - you should be aware that these types of policies should be put in place by people familiar with the coverage that is being offered to ensure that any site conditions that need to be addressed - in fact - are addressed. 

If your client is still interested in this coverage or if you would like to ever discuss this type of coverage - please feel free to call me and I'll help you any way that I can.  Please note that the carriers that we typically work with in order to get this environmental coverage are: ACE, AIG, Arch, Chubb, LIU Environmental, XL Environmental, Zurich Environmental and the newest carrier on the market, Great American.  If you go to any of their websites - and input the word "environmental" into their search area - a lot of information - including policy forms - can be found there.

Please feel free to discuss anytime.

Regards,

Ursula Knowles, SVP/Knowlege Manager

Marsh Global Environmental Practice

1166 Avenue of the America, NY, NY  10036

212-345-0227