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Importance of Spill Documentation
After a spill of diesel fuel, hazmat or any other regulated material requiring environmental cleanup, documentation is critical to avoid being drawn into a pre-existing contamination problem as a responsible party. Being able to document that a release was separate in time, separate in nature, and was the subject of a separate and complete response and remediation, will go a long way toward a successful defense. All actions taken after a spill should be logged so that the written record can be used to place the company in a legally defensible position.
A driver who thought he had done everything required of him after a routine diesel fuel spill of 30 gallons in New Jersey got a surprise a few weeks later. A letter from the N.J. Dept. of Environmental Protection advised the private fleet to which he was leased that it was required to pay a $75,000 fine for failure to comply with the state's environmental reporting requirement. At the time of the spill, a full accident report was filed with the state police (who failed to mention the spill reporting requirement).
The carrier thought the situation was resolved after the site was cleaned up and soil remediation work was completed. So the DEP report went unfiled. Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse. That was a costly mistake (since insurance does not cover failure-to-report fines). If the fleet had been a Spill Center client, a Spill Center compliance associate would have informed them about the N.J. regulation and would have filed that report for the carrier, avoiding the fine.
Sign Up With Spill Center Today
The Spill Center program is designed to help clients avoid fees and penalties for missing reporting deadlines and to contain other spill-related costs. Vital event information is collected once and, upon the client's approval, provided to the appropriate authorities. Spill generators are provided with electronic data spill packages with complete documentation of spill incidents, reporting, site remediation and other actions taken to close them. Spill Center has developed proprietary environmental claims reporting, tracking and documentation systems, which are available to support spill generator clients.
For more information on Spill Center's client service, call Tom Moses, president, at 978-568-1922, x222, or email him at tmoses@spillcenter.com. Visit www.spillcenter.com for more information about Spill Center, which has been providing support clients involved in environmental releases for nearly 20 years.
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