Natural Hazards as the Cause of Toxic Spills in the United States, with some Notes on Liability*

Natural disasters that create technological emergencies by causing the release of dangerous materials such as oil, chemicals, or radiological/infectious agents are called “na-tech” events (Showalter and Myers 1992). Although there has yet to be a catastrophic na-tech event in the United States, low impact events are fairly common. An example of this occurred a few weeks ago when, during flooding in Texas, an oil pipeline ruptured by floodwaters exploded. The potential for a serious na-tech event is rising, however, bacause the US, like many industrialized countries, is greatly dependent on the production and use of chemicals. For example, industry manufactures millions of gallons of gasoline and millions of pounds of herbicides every day. Additionally, in 1985, approximately 200,000 facilities in the US generated 275 million metric tons of hazardous waste. Many of these facilities, as well as those that store, transport, and/or use such toxic materials, are vulnerable to the different types of natural hazards that exist in a country as large as the US.In an effort to obtain baseline data regarding na-tech events that occurred in the past, and to estimate their potential for the future, the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center (University of Colorado-Boulder) performed a literature search and surveyed US state emergency management agencies. Among the findings was a clear trend toward increasing numbers of na-tech events, with the largest promotion of incidents involving interaction with earthquakes, followed by climatic-related events such as hurricanes, floods, lightning, and winds. However, only rarely was evidence presented that governmental policies or legislation directly recognized the possibility for such events.Part of the reason that na-tech events are not addressed directly is because disaster planning tends to be “agent-specific” with separate, distinct plans organized around specific natural agents, such as floods, or artificial agents, such as hazardous material releases. Because of this, emergency planners rarely prepare for na-tech events, per se, instead relying on guidelines in agent-specific documents (such as are found in the National Flood Insurance Program) to reduce the impact of such events.The Hazard Center's survey asked emergency planners for recommendations to reduce damage from future na-tech events. Among the recommendations was a desire to engage the insurance industry via a long-term program to adjust insurance rates so that they reflect the adoption of mitigation measures that minimize the potential for disaster-generated damages, economic losses, and injuries. This paper identifies some of the options, and obstacles, that currently face the insurance industry when it attempts to deal with natural or technological events, and endeavors to relate these issues to na-tech events.