Environmental Site Assessments, are performed prior to property transfer or the closing of industrial and commercial real-estate transactions to determine if recognized environmental conditions exist on a subject property.
Many commercial properties carry environmental liabilities. Any liabilities associated with a property are transferred to the new owner following acquisition. To prevent or minimize buying these liabilities, performing proper environmental due diligence prior to your real estate transaction can provide you with information to assist in making an informed business decision. American Environmental Assessment & Solutions, Inc can provide you with a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment that can identify and quantify possible liabilities. By performing proper environmental due diligence, you are also creating a second layer of protection through the “Innocent Land Owner Act” against unidentifiable liabilities as long as it can be proven a thorough investigation was conducted prior to purchasing a property.
Financial institutions frequently require that a Phase I ESA be conducted to accomplish this task. Overlooking this concern can cost you substantial future environmental expenditures, even if you did not create or contribute to the contamination.
Phase I or Initial Site Assessment (ISA)
A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is the gold standard for evaluating the environmental liability associated with a real estate asset. A Phase I ESA is used to identify actual and potential environmental concerns and contamination at a Site which may impact the property value or affect claim to an “innocent land owner” exemption following acquisition. Property Health performs ESAs in accordance with the most recent American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard E 1527-05, Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessment.
The initial site assessment (ISA) is to evaluate property that may be affected by contamination. The purpose of an ISA is to gather as much information about the possible presence of contamination within the proposed project limits. The project limits would include the existing or proposed right of way, including that stretching from surrounding or adjacent properties. The ISA is a non-intrusive assessment; the information can be gathered without actually collecting soil or groundwater samples to help determine the likelihood of encountering hazardous material contamination on the project. Information gathered from an initial site assessment should also be considered in alternative analysis and selection.
The components of the ISA include:
Professional judgment should be used to determine the appropriate level of investigation for each component of an ISA. The appropriate level of investigation for an ISA will depend upon the project’s design and right-of-way requirements.
The ISA should be performed as early as possible in project development, preferably prior to schematic development. Because the duties are similar, the ISA can be incorporated into the site visit, field surveys and land use research required for other environmental studies in the NEPA process. If design and right-of-way requirements change, the entire ISA or some individual components may require re-evaluation to determine whether the findings are still valid. Any new information or changes to the project requirements should be examined to determine if further assessment, research or investigation for hazardous materials is needed. To be cost effective, components of the assessment and investigations may be performed in phases as the design requirements are finalized during project development.
Phase II Environmental Site Assessments or Investigations (ESA)
The main purpose of conducting an environmental site assessment (ESA) is to determine whether known or possible contamination might be encountered during construction. The information from an ESA may be useful in developing cost-effective preventive action plans or specifications to handle any contamination found. An ESA may also help to determine closure requirements of regulated facilities or contaminated areas. An ESA should include the following activities: