Lenders Liability of Commercial Banks in Environmental Tort: Focusing on American Law

With the deterioration of the environment and increasingly seriously environmental damage, the spread of the environmental responsibility scope is one of means to respond environmental crises. The federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 1980 (CERCLA of US) imposed strict and joint liability to commercial banks and made them first become the main principle of liability in the environment tort. The systems of the environmental lender liability in US indicate that any person who “holds indicia of ownership primarily to protect the security interest” in a vessel or facility and provides that this person will not be liable as an owner or operator if the person does not “participate in the management” of the facility or vessel. Otherwise, commercial banks will be identified as the responsible party for the cleanup and reimbursement of costs associated with releases of hazardous substances. The lender environmental liability systems haven’t been established in China. It is the nip in the bud to comprehensively cognize the systems environmental lender liability of US.