HOME
Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Requirements:
Our Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment report adheres to American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM) E-1527-05 standard. This report complies with the All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule that was promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency on November 1, 2005, with enforcement starting on November 1, 2006 (40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 312). Our Phase 1 reports include:
- historical building permits review
- historical aerial photograph review
- historical Sanborn Fire Insurance Map review
- historical city directory review
- historical topo map review
- local environmental oversight agency interviews
- analysis of local hydrogeologic conditions
- government environmental database review
- inspection of subject property and surrounding areas
- interviews with owners, occupants and neighboring tenants
- a detailed professional site plan
- digital photographs with descriptions
- inclusion of the Statement of Qualifications of assessors
- conclusions regarding potential environmental liabilities using our extensive risk-based analysis experience
- recommendations.
Additional Scope of Work Required by the New AAI Law (2005):
Codified into federal law (40 CFR Part 312) on November 1, 2005. Enforced on November 1, 2006.
New ASTM Standard for the rule is: ASTM E-1527-05.
Defines the term Environmental Professional (EP) and establishes qualifications for those performing Phase 1 ESAs (hold a current Professional
Engineer or Professional Geologist license or registration
from a state, tribe, or U.S. territory (or the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico) and have the equivalent of three years of
full-time relevant experience
OR 4 year Baccalaureate degree in any engineering or science field with five years of full-time relevant experience OR ten years of full-time relevant experience).
In addition to interviewing current owners and occupants of the subject property, an interview with past owners and occupants must be conducted as necessary [Section 312.20(e)-(f)].
Interview with neighboring or nearby property owners or occupants must be conducted if the subject property is abandoned.
Previous use of the property needs to be described from the present back to when the property first contained structures or was developed for residential, commercial, agricultural, industrial or governmental purposes.
More information requested from the User of the report (person for whom the report is being prepared).
AAI rule requires identification of records of Activity and Use Limitations (AULs) and Environmental Cleanup Liens.
In addition to the review of federal and state records, the ESA must include a review of (all) local and tribal records within the required search distance of the Property.
Visual inspection of the subject property AND adjoining properties is required (limited exemption with specific requirements if the subject property cannot be inspected).
AAI rule looks at the relationship of the purchase price compared with the fair market value of the property which may indicate contamination at the property.
Data gaps must be identified with the significance of the data gap with regard to the ability of the EP to identify conditions indicative of releases and threatened releases.
New Rule and standard will raise the cost of a Phase 1 ESA.
Shelf life of Phase 1 Environmental report is specified as one year with some updates required after 180 days.
A copy of the published AAI rule that was released by the EPA can be downloaded by clicking the following link:
|
