Development of a two stage liability allocation process in case of multiple party pollution

Determination of the remediability score for remediation liability allocation among polluters

“…The RS, the development of which is explained and illustrated above, can be used as a factor in deciding the share of multiple parties' allocated liability share for remediating a contaminated site. When multiple parties contaminate a site with the same pollutant, RS for all parties will be the same, and other relevant factors, that is, the quantity of chemical released by polluter and the distribution of chemical in the environmental medium (quantified as the volume of media contaminated by each party), will determine each party's share in the remediation cost (Priya et al, 2022). However, when the pollutants are different, the RS score becomes decisive along with other factors, including the “persistence of the chemical in the environmental medium.” In such a situation, the authority may decide to go ahead with a particular method of remediation, considering various factors.…”

“…If the same polluter contributes other pollutants as well, the responsible party will have RSs corresponding to all those pollutants. Similarly, if multiple polluters contribute to the same pollutants at a site, the RSs will be the same for all polluters for that pollutant, though other factors like the distribution of chemicals in the environment, the quantity of chemicals, and so forth will be factors in deciding each party's share when determining the remediation cost (Priya et al, 2022).…”

“…The impact liability and remediation liability can be quantified in terms of a set of predetermined technical factors. The factors depend mainly on the properties of the contaminated environmental medium and the properties of the contaminant (Priya et al, 2022). The environmental medium typically becomes contaminated due to different activities such as the improper use of fertilizers, mining activities, industrial waste discharges, and so forth.…”

“…Priya et al (2020) presented a framework for allocating liabilities among polluters, which had two stages: the first stage for technical liability allocation, followed by the second stage for legal liability allocation. Priya et al (2022) have defined technical liability as the “liability that is proportional to the quantified share of each party in those attributes of pollution/pollutant(s) which can be measured using scientific techniques” and legal liability as “the liability of each party for pollution as decided by an authority authorized to carry out such responsibility allocation in the obeisance of any rules and regulations relevant to the case and applicable to the jurisdiction where the decision is made.” Both the impact liability and remediation liability will have a technical liability component. Once the technical liability is mitigated, the courts, regulatory agencies, or other allocation expert(s) can perform the legal liability allocation considering additional nontechnical factors, if any.…”

“…Though Priya et al (2020) suggested the concept of “remediability,” no methods were proposed for quantifying it. Later, Priya et al (2022) identified the various factors that can characterize remediability; however, a detailed methodology to quantify it was still absent. In this study, the authors are proposing a method to quantify remediability.…”