AbitibiBadwater. . . . .

You can bet that this story will not get anywhere near as much coverage as it should. For the Supreme Court to agree that Abitibibowater can absolve itself of the social responsibility of environmental clean-up is, in fact, monumental. This further solidifies the corporate society in which we now live. Though the Court claims to have upheld the principle of "polluter-pay," it de facto dispensed with that principle  because any large corporation will now be able to avoid paying for major environmental damage through the Companies' Creditor Arrangement Act. This could lead to serious disasters in the future, disasters caused by corporations for which we will have to pay.

The responsible way forward is now clear. Any major industrial undertaking should involve a significant pre-disaster payment to be held in escrow so that payment for the clean-up (and there are always clean-ups of one sort or another) is guaranteed. By I won't hold my breath.