From oil spills to nuclear waste to a floating garbage patch containing 3.5 million tons of plastic, man-made disasters are some of the most expensive, and, in some cases, the most difficult to clean up.
Here is a list of the costliest, and the strangest, man-made disasters on the planet.
Source: Emergency-Management-Degree.org
New York State Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin M. Lawsky and Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Friday that they had filed for a temporary restraining order against the scheduled New York City launch of car-sharing service Lyft.
The car sharing service, known for its pink mustache decorations, has been operating since April in Buffalo and Rochester and had announced it would begin operations in Brooklyn and Queens, without getting a green light from the state.
“After Lyft rejected a reasonable request by the state to delay its launch, we filed a motion for a temporary restraining order in State Supreme Court this morning,” Lawsky said in a statement. “As a result of that action, the court has granted the state a temporary restraining order preventing Lyft from launching this evening in New York City. We will return to court on Monday, to address issues pertaining to Buffalo and Rochester in addition to New York City.”
Lawsky continued that the action was pursued “only after repeatedly offering to work with Lyft in order to ensure that its business practices complied with the law. Instead of collaborating with the state to help square innovation with statute and protect the public, as other technology companies have done as recently as this week, Lyft decided to move ahead and simply ignore state and local laws.”
He said the company’s arguments are a “disingenuous attempt to disguise old-fashioned law-breaking that jeopardizes public safety.”
Lyft is a car-sharing service that allows a car’s owner to turn an auto into a personal Zipcar and rent it by the hour or the day. The owner sets a price, and an intermediary service lists the car online, connects the owner with people who want to it and takes a portion of the fee.
At issue is insurance for car share vehicles. While car-sharing has been sanctioned in California, Oregon and Washington, some insurers are cautioning against it. In the states that have passed laws, legislation prevents insurers from canceling the policy of an owner who rents a vehicle.
Car-share programs are also required to provide liability insurance approved by the state.
The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) recently pointed out that the rise of formal car-sharing programs throughout the United States has uncovered numerous insurance-related challenges, especially over the role of the car owner’s personal insurer and what exposure it may have.
John Murphy, NAMIC’s state affairs director for the Northeast said, “With a car-sharing program, an insurer lacks important information for gauging the risk.
Car sharing is essentially a commercial enterprise, and the personal auto carrier should not be required to cover a risk that it never intended to cover.”
Despite pleas to conserve water by Gov. Jerry Brown, Californians have paid little attention, prompting the state’s Water Resources Control Board to consider steep fines of up to $500 per day.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that higher fines would go to those who soak their lawns or use a hose without a nozzle, for example. If approved, this would be the first time the state has imposed such regulations.
Although Gov. Brown’s goal was to cut down on water usage by 20% through a combination of mandatory and voluntary restrictions, statewide water use has been reduced by only 5% so far.
“Having a dirty car and a brown lawn should be a badge of honor because it shows you care about your community,” Felicia Marcus, the board’s chairwoman, said in a teleconference. “We don’t know when it will rain again.
It’s prudent to act as if it won’t.”
She also said that Californians should prepare for further restrictions: “What we’re proposing here as an opening salvo is the bare minimum. If it doesn’t rain later this fall, we certainly will consider more stringent measures.
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While most of California’s water is used to irrigate Central Valley farms, the new regulations would target urban water-users, where more than half of the water is used on landscaping, Marcus said.
A Stanford Alumni Magazine article pointed out that if climate change model projections play out, the Sierra’s spring snowpack, which supplies water for tens of millions of Californians, will have dwindled and some of the massive aquifers underlying Central Valley farms may dry up from continued overuse. Making things worse, California’s population, now 38 million, is projected at 46 million by 2035—and more than 50 million by 2050.
“In the past, we have developed a water system that does a great job of meeting our needs—the needs of growing cities, the needs of growing agricultural areas,” said Barton Thompson, a Stanford law professor.
“But the approaches that we used were not sustainable, and they are at risk of much more extreme drought conditions than we have today.”
He noted that problems of California and the West cannot be ignored, as 2013 was the driest year since the 1800s Gold Rush era, when record-keeping began. Even if spring rains arrive, they would not be enough to make up the deficit. What’s more, the Sierra snowpack—comprising a third of the state’s water supply—ended its last season at just 18% of its average level.
Courtesy of Stanford University
Insurance buyers should expect improved rates and extended terms and conditions, as July 1 renewals saw price decreases across most geographies and lines of business, “many in the double-digit range,” according to Guy Carpenter.
“While the impact on property renewals, especially in the U.S., has been well documented, a wide variety of lines including marine, aviation, casualty, workers compensation and healthcare experienced improved terms and abundant capacity,” said Lara Mowery, managing director and head of Global Property Specialty for Guy Carpenter.
“As a result, we have seen continued discussions around the expansion of terms and flexibility in adapting solutions to provide more client-specific tailored coverage that extend well beyond property.”
U.S. property renewal price decreases averaged in the mid-to-high teens. Changes in coverage, more diverse product offerings and an increase in multi-year options “enabled companies to better tailor their coverage to meet their risk management needs,” Guy Carpenter said.
In the U.S. casualty market, rates and terms continued to soften significantly on post-Jan. 1, 2014 quota share reinsurance program renewals. This trend was driven by reinsurers’ desire to diversify their writings as a result of an ongoing reduction in property catastrophe premiums. In addition, loss ratios improved on the underlying business as a consequence of rate increases and reserve releases.
Guy Carpenter noted that growth in catastrophe bond issuance was strong through the first half of 2014, with a record-setting half-year issuance of .
7 billion of 144A property catastrophe bonds. “In fact, even with no further activity for the remainder of the year, 2014 would still register as the fourth largest year in terms of new issuance,” the company said.
The Insurance Information Institute reported that profitability in the property/casualty insurance industry “retreated modestly” in the first quarter of 2014, as a result of higher underwriting losses. These were in part due to elevated catastrophe claims resulting from the polar vortex last year, and an abrupt drop in U.S. economic activity that caused lower premium growth and investment income. “Despite these headwinds, the industry registered a respectable return on average surplus of 8.4% in the quarter, compared to 9.
6% in the first quarter of 2013 and 10.3% for all of 2013,” the III said.