CG 21 65: Total Pollution Exclusion With Exceptions Explained

CG 21 65 replaces the commercial general liability policy's pollution exclusion with a broad total pollution exclusion. It retains two narrow exceptions involving emissions from certain building equipment and heat, smoke, or fumes from some hostile fires.

The exceptions are not general pollution coverage. A business should not infer that cleanup costs, spills, waste handling, mold, fuel releases, or contracting pollution exposures are covered merely because CG 21 65 is less restrictive than a total pollution exclusion without exceptions.

What does CG 21 65 exclude?

The 12 04 endorsement excludes bodily injury or property damage that would not have occurred in whole or part without the actual, alleged, or threatened release or movement of pollutants. It also excludes specified pollution response costs and government claims for those costs. A public City of Beaumont contract includes the filed endorsement and its complete operative structure.^[1]

Because the form uses broad causation language, it may affect routine business events as well as traditional environmental contamination. What qualifies as a pollutant and how the event occurred remain claim-specific questions under the policy and state law.

What do the two exceptions preserve?

The building-equipment exception applies only to bodily injury sustained inside a building owned, occupied, rented, or loaned to an insured. The smoke, fumes, vapor, or soot must originate from equipment used to heat, cool, or dehumidify the building, or equipment that heats water for occupants' personal use.

The hostile-fire exception can apply to bodily injury or property damage from heat, smoke, or fumes. It does not apply when the hostile fire originates at a waste handling, storage, disposal, processing, or treatment site, or where the insured or its contractors are performing pollution testing, cleanup, containment, treatment, or response work.^[2]

Is CG 21 65 pollution liability insurance?

No. The endorsement excludes far more than it restores. The EPA describes CG 21 55 and CG 21 65 as total pollution exclusions with only very limited exceptions.^[3] A business with environmental work, fuel tanks, waste, chemical releases, transportation pollution, or cleanup exposure may need a separate pollution policy or a different endorsement.

Contract requirements sometimes specifically ask for the building-equipment and hostile-fire exceptions. That does not confirm every other pollution exposure is insured.

This guide is for educational purposes and summarizes standard ISO policy language in original words. Menlo Insurance Services is not affiliated with Insurance Services Office, Inc. Your policy's terms, definitions, and endorsements control. Talk to a licensed broker about your actual pollution exposures.

The Bottom Line

CG 21 65 is a broad pollution exclusion with two carefully limited exceptions, not affirmative environmental coverage. Identify the pollutant source, type of harm, location, and cleanup obligation before drawing a coverage conclusion.