Custom Environmental Insurance

How Can We Help You?

Affordable comprehensive insurance coverage designed for petroleum marketers, convenience store owners and others with potential environmental risks. Our policies do more than just help you meet Financial Responsibility; they provide the complete protection that other policies do not.

Real protection. Real value. Real simple.

Available Coverage

CEI’s UST coverage fully complies with all State and Federal EPA Financial Responsibility requirements. The policy is a “suspected release” form that includes coverage for natural resources damages. The program allows premium credit for sites upgraded or deleted mid-term. We offer Underground Tank Insurance, Aboveground Tank Insurance and Site Pollution Insurance.

Have You Considered This?

Is pollution insurance required for above ground storage tanks (ASTs)?

Only in three states. The Federal regulations only require that UST owners and operators demonstrate proof of financial responsibility (FR) through insurance, or some other form of acceptable financial mechanism. However, the State regulations in DE, FL and VA require proof of FR for ASTs, similar to the regulations for USTs.

It is important to understand that the absence of FR requirements in other states does not mean absence of liability in the event of a release. Owners and operators of ASTs are still liable for any resulting environmental damages and third party liability caused by releases from ASTs.

Are all Storage Tank Pollution Polices the same?

NO! While all available storage tank pollution insurance policies reportedly comply with the State and Federal financial responsibility regulations, the various policies provide varying level of protection. For instance, not all polices pay for the expense to investigate and confirm a release. Some polices offer total of only $250,000 for all related defense costs; others provide defense limit of $1,000,000 per claim with no policy aggregate.

There may be many differences between the storage tank pollution polices you are considering, and while you may purchasing insurance only to meet the financial responsibility requirements, you should always make sure you are getting the most for your premium dollars. For more information, see “Comparing Tank Coverage.”

How many States provide State Funds for Financial Responsibility?

State Funds are offered in all but 13 states. Those states that do not operate a State Fund include Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Approximately 10 other states have “sunset dates” whereby those states funds will eventually be discontinued. The State of Georgia provides a State Fund, but allows owners and operators of USTs to opt out of the fund, and elect to use insurance, or some other acceptable form of financial responsibility to meet the regulations.

The coverage under the various state funds may vary in the types of tanks and products covered, deductible amounts, etc.For more information go to http://www.astswmo.org/publications_tanks.htm and review the 2009 State Fund Survey Results which outline the various State Fund Programs.

How do Storage Tank Funds and Insurance compare in cost and coverage?

Surprisingly, storage tank pollution insurance is both affordable and provides more protection that that offered by the individual State Tank Funds. Take the typical convenience store having three 10,000 gallon USTs. On average, the total volume sold in a year is approximately 1,500,000 gallons. With a State Fund tax rate of 1 cent per gallon, the State Fund cost to provide coverage for this one location would be $15,000.

The average insurance premium cost for three storage tanks would range between $500 - $1,000 (depending on the tank age, construction and type of leak detection being used) a total of $1,500 - $3,000 for this one location.

Consider that State Funds do not provide coverage for defense costs, the high deductibles under those funds, and that these funds generally have a lengthy waiting period for reimbursement of covered cost, the financial protections afforded by insurance exceed the coverage afforded by the various State Funds. For more information, see “Insurance vs. State Funds.”