Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I submit the following. INDECS, May 12, 2010. Re Proposal to amend the Oil Pollution Act 1990 (OPA 90) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Hon. Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator, Senate Hart Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Sir: Executive Summary The energy insurance market has limited financial capacity for pollution. What protection it can offer, sees many terms and conditions contained in the language of the policies issued. These limitations can range from whether a policy covers pollution originating from a reservoir, the absence of a definition for environmental damage, the sharing of limits with other heads of claims, to whether there is negligence on the part of the entity making the claim. Insurers' ability to issue an insurance certificate to provide a company with its evidence of financial responsibility under OPA 90 is similarly limited. Our current estimates point to a maximum insurance financial capacity of approximately US$250 million for this exposure, with a further US$1.5 billion subject to the exclusions mentioned above. We detail below many of the areas that need to be considered carefully in this assessment. It is quite clear to us that the ability to transfer any increased risk to the insurance market is very constrained. The extent to which oil companies, other than the super majors, will be able to provide alternative security, must be questionable.…”