Recognizing and Minimizing Tort and Regulatory Risk

The following essay is a prevention plan for Alumina Company grievances. It explains the regulatory risks, and torts such as tort liability and litigation, identified and managed through preventive, detective, and corrective measures, using the table of legal issues and principles developed in the Learning Team. The plan clearly identifies common torts and other regulatory risks, as considered in the readings, and describes specific measures to manage those risks (University of Phoenix, 2014).

Business Regulation Simulation Findings Table

Simulation Component	Issues	Principles
Mr. Lloyd wants us to immediately take charge of the damage control exercise.	Download, deposit or infiltrate wastewater, liquid chemicals, waste or contaminants in soils, rivers and marine waters, in streams of jurisdiction and cause harm to public health.	Crime against the environment that is sanctioned by the existence of environmental legislation.
The Erehwon Reporter newspaper insists to keep the case alive.	EPA notified the information disclosure under FOIA.	Allow partial release of the environmental audit report.
Bates started a lawsuit against our Company.	Senior management needs to respond with a strategic method.	Seek American Arbitration Associations intervention in resolving the dispute through alternative means.

According to EPA, a program of pollution prevention is a detailed operation of an industry in order to minimize all waste study. Includes:

·         Reduce the risk of civil and criminal liability.

·         Reduce operating costs

·         Enhance the company image in the community.

·         Protect public health and the environment

The program of pollution prevention in industry can be achieved through two methods of waste minimization at source: changes in output and changes in production processes (Benavides, 1992). The product changes include changes in the composition of the product to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste during the product life cycle. Changes in the process include various modifications of the product to minimize the amount of waste generated in the production.

Social Responsibility and Legal Liability for Crimes of ecological order

The man lives and grows in the environment (planet earth) and many times by their unconscious act causes deterioration in the various elements of the planet, such as the atmosphere, water resources (rivers and oceans), soil and other living species, both animal and vegetable. According to Case, Mendocino and Tomas, among the influential factors or causes of ecological problems and their effects are:

·         Lack of technical recuperative environment

·         Lack of technical and environmental recovery measures

·         Diversion and stream sedimentation

·         Contamination with chemicals and other substances

·         Destruction of the soil and subsoil

·         Hunting and overfishing

·         accelerated extinction of living species

·         Increasing population and consumption

·         Waste and Solid Waste

The Organic Law is a systematized and legal principle, domestic and international standards governing set human activity in its interaction with ecosystems and the environment by establishing appropriate conservation and protection measures so as not to compromise the expectations of future generations (Freeman, 1995).

Internationally, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, highlights the environmental protection as a matter of relations between nations, but it is from the 1st Conference on Environment and United Nations development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Agenda 21 document that guides or fixed for all members activities on the environment must be met to achieve sustainable development is adopted (Peña-Chacón, 2005).

          All environmental liability regimes should be based on the principles of environmental law “Polluter Payer”, “Preventative”, “precautionary” and “Correction to the source." The purpose of the scheme is always preventive , deterrent , compensatory repressive , forcing the polluter or degrading to restore and compensate if any damage , meaning that the compensable injury must necessarily be significant , since not all changes in the quality or amount of natural resources should be considered damage and lead to liability.

          Its effectiveness is subject to clearly identify the polluter, the quantification of the damage occurred agent, and the establishment of the link between cause - effect the damage occurred and the alleged creator of the agent. Course will work best in cases where the source of contamination is identifiable (industrial accidents) and loses its effectiveness in cases of widespread pollution of a diffuse character , where it is impossible to link the negative effects on the environment with the activities of certain agents ( effects climate change or acid rain) .
          The goal will always be to ensure the damaged environment decontamination , restoration as far as possible to the situation before the harmful event , and compensation to individuals who suffer impairment both patrimonial and extra equity in their individual rights.
          In terms of environmental responsibility, does not apply responsibility opinion character, that is, one in which the victim must prove the causal link (defaults to a duty of care) between the action of a harmful agent and the damage suffered. Instead, operates strict liability , in which, the mere existence of the damage said to be the responsibility of the agent have been the cause of it, and therefore the responsibility for compensating the damages caused by his conduct . In this type of liability is not necessary to prove fault of the actor, but only that the act or omission caused the injury. Thus, the damaging agent assumes all damages resulting from its activities, or complies with the standard of care (Peña-Chacón, 2005).
          All liability regimes, especially in environmental matters must contemplate request by the complainant precautionary measures. Precautionary measures loom large in the implementation of environmental law, due to the inherent complexity of the environmental damage. Preventive and precautionary principle is a living example of the relevance in this matter preventing harm to the environment (Benavides, 1992). Precautionary measures in general, and especially in the case of preventing environmental damage should not be taxable, which authorizes judges to make those necessary for each specific case, thus being able to innovate and create protective measures, provided they meet two requirements fundamental case or the probability or likelihood judgment and periculum in arrears or damage assessment difficult or impossible to repair.

According to EPA, in the final resolution of the special administrative procedure may be applied the following protective measures and sanctions:

·         Notice by notice that there is a claim.

·         Reprimand commensurate with the gravity of the violations and once verified.

·         Implementation of the performance bond, issued in the EIA .

·         Restrictions, partial or total, or order of immediate cessation of acts or events causing the complaint.

·         Closing , total or partial , temporary or permanent , of the acts or events causing the complaint

·          Total, permanent or temporary partial cancellation, permits, patents, or local businesses that cause the complaint, the act or fact contaminating or destructive.

·         Imposition of countervailing duties or stabilizing the environment or biodiversity.

·         Alteration or demolition of buildings or works that harm the environment.

·         Alternatives compensation penalty, such as receiving formal educational courses on environmental issues also work in community works in the area of ​​environment.

The environment is a legal right of common or collective nature, where their degradation affects all the subjects that make up the community and the community itself. Therefore, once the damage occurred, and depending on the intensity, extent, timing and persistence, the same may be reversible or irreversible. Hence the importance of precautionary measures for environmental law, for the irreversible environmental damage brings dire consequences for the ecological balance.

References

Benavides L. "Residuos peligrosos en empresas de pequeña escala. UMP/UNCHS, CEPIS

"Divulgación técnica"1992.

Case, Laurie; Mendocino, Laura; y Tomas, David. "Developing and Maintaining a Pollution

Prevention Program, In: Industrial Pollution Prevention "Handbook. Harry M. Freeman, ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1995.

Freeman, Harry M., Industrial Prevention Handbook. ed. New York,: Mc. Graw Hill, Inc. 1995.
Peña Chacón, Mario. La nueva directiva comunitaria sobre responsabilidad ambiental en relación

con la prevención y reparación de los daños ambientales y su relación con los regímenes latinoamericanos de responsabilidad ambiental, Revista Lex Difusión y Análisis, año IX, febrero 2005, número 116, México.

University of Phoenix, USA - Business Regulation Simulation Findings Table www.phoenix.edu

Retrieved on January 22, 2014

U.S. EPA. Facility Pollution Prevention Guide, EPA/600/R-92/088. Washington, D.C., 1992.

Retrieved on January 18, 2014
U.S. EPA. Waste Minimization: Environmental Quality with Economic Benefits. EPA/530-SW-

87-026. Washington,D.C.,1987 Retrieved on January 18, 2014