EXTON, Pennsylvania (AP) — XL Insurance, the global insurance subsidiary for Bermuda-based XL Capital Ltd., said its environmental division launched a unit that will provide pollution coverage to small and mid-size businesses.

The new unit will handle pollution insurance requests mainly from construction and commercial real estate firms.The unit will provide pollution and remediation liability coverage, contractor's pollution liability coverage and combined general liability and professional liability coverage.

The pollution and remediation liability coverage protects against loss, expenses and legal defence expenses for pollution at or from covered locations.

The contractor's coverage provides protection from liability due to pollution arising from operations performed by an insured contractor.