| Title: |
Using baselines in liability management – what do upcoming Directives require from us?
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| Resource Type: |
document --> technical publication --> report
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| Country: |
International organisation- network or project
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| Year: |
2008 |
| Availability: |
Report of the NICOLE Workshop 14-16 November 2007, Brussels, Belgium
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| Author 1/Producer: |
NICOLE
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| Other Authors/Producers: |
Paul Bardos
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| Author / Producer Type: |
Professional / trade / industry associations, institutes or networks
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| Publisher: |
NICOLE
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| Publisher City: |
TNO, Appeldoorn, the Netherlands
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| Report / download web link (=direct link): |
http://www.nicole.org
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| Format (e.g. PDF): |
PDF
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| Size: (e.g. 20mb) |
990
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EUGRIS Keyword(s): |
Contaminated land-->Cost benefit analysis-->Cost benefit analysis overview
Contaminated land-->Cost benefit analysis-->Tools
Contaminated land-->Remediation options-->Remediation options overview
Contaminated land-->Risk assessment-->Receptor: Ecological
Contaminated land-->Risk management-->Risk management overview
Contaminated land-->Wider impacts / sustainability-->Environmental
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| Short description: |
Managing liability for contaminated land and groundwater is a topic that naturally is of interest to NICOLE members. Crucial questions about liability include:
o How far does my liability extend?
o To whom does the liability belong?
o Is the contamination historical or more recent?
o How far do I have to go with the mitigating measures to manage risks (to human health and environment)?
Baselines are a useful tool in liability management. The definition of a baseline condition may vary for different applications and could, for example, represent the starting condition, the condition that prevailed before the site was contaminated or the condition to which a site has to be restored. The importance of baselines has been highlighted by the Environmental Liability Directive and its transposition in the EU Member States. However, other pieces of legislation such as the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive and the Groundwater Daughter Directive also include elements of baseline thinking.
In terms of managing liability the “real” question that underpins any transfer of risk or remediation requirement is: “What is the baseline condition that needs to be returned to and does the liability for reaching it belong to me?” Hence baselines play a role in scenarios concerning, for example, sales and acquisitions of sites, insurances for pollution and remediation, liability transfers and contractual negotiations, land valuation, redevelopment, etc.
The objective of this workshop is to investigate what requirements current and upcoming legislation will put on the site owner, the seller of a site and the buyer of a site. Sessions dealt with regulatory aspects, financial aspects and methodologies for dealing with the definition of baselines and for designing risk management approaches to meet those baselines. An interactive session was included, in which the participants developed plans for defining a baseline condition in short case study.
A baseline is a “status” established at a certain moment and location. It triggers ongoing monitoring of the status, and if the status changes this may trigger actions. A lot of EU legislation makes use of baselines, for example:
• Groundwater Daughter Directive (2006/118/EC): ‘baseline level’ means the average value measured at least during the reference years 2007 and 2008 on the basis of monitoring programmes implemented under Article 8 of Directive 2000/60/EC or, in the case of substances identified after these reference years, during the first period for which a representative period of monitoring data is available establishes a date that distinguishes historical versus new pollution.
• Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/EC): damage to protected species and natural habitats, which is any damage that has significant adverse effects on reaching or maintaining the favourable conservation status of such habitats or species. The significance of such effects is to be assessed with reference to the baseline condition, taking account of the criteria set out in Annex I.
The Environmental Liability Directive has triggered the need for some land owners to look at the status in 2007 of habitats that they are responsible for or might impact, the year in which the Directive came into force (as liability before this date is excluded from the Directive and falls under whatever provisions already exist in national legislation) .
This report provides summaries of the papers given, along with conclusions based on points raised during the meeting, and comments from a number of delegates after the meeting.
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Submitted By:
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Professor Paul Bardos WhoDoesWhat?
Last update: 20/04/2008
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