Absolute Pollution Exclusion Turns 17

Happy Birthday! The absolute pollution exclusion turns seventeen this year.1 And like many seventeen-year-olds, it is having a hard time making up its mind what it wants to do. Of course, it shouldn’t be faulted for such indecision, considering how many people are providing it with advice. As readers of this publication are well-aware, litigation surrounding the absolute pollution exclusion has reached “shock and awe” proportions. A combined federal and state search on Lexis for “‘pollution exclusion’ w/3 absolute or total,” undertaken at the time of this writing, produced 380 hits. And scores more are out there.