DUST IN THE WIND: WILL NEW ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS MEAN MORE LIABILITY CLAIMS?

摘要

The nation's leading agricultural producers are facing increasingly stringent enforcement of environmental regulations. This follows in light of agriculture's increasingly visible role as a major contributor to airborne paniculate matter. At the sametime, the media has focused the spotlight on the nation's worst air quality basin, where many of those same farmers are located. Environmental matters are highly emotional and politically charged topics whenever they arise. Will this combination of factors combine to expose farmers and their insurers to heightened tort liability? This Comment will review the evolution of environmental regulations and how they evolved following some highly publicized environmental debacles. Then follows a discussion about some of the possibilities that may lie ahead for agricultural producers and the companies who insure them for liability.