CERCLA’s Novel and Untested Defenses: Acts of God, Acts of War, Acts of Third Parties and Cultural Resource Damages
9/4/2014 Articles
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 has options for pursuing and defending against natural resource damages (NRD)—compensation for service losses arising from injuries to natural resources—but certain defenses and exclusions to such claims remain novel and untested. In this article, Sarah Peterman Bell discusses the act of war and act of God defenses to NRD claims in particular, focusing on how they have fared in court. She also discusses apparent strong support in the courts for the argument that injuries to cultural resources are not recoverable as natural resource damages.