Environmental Site Assessments

provides guidance to potential buyers, owners, and operators who are interested in the environmental condition of real property. Public awareness of environmental laws has created both obvious and unexpected liabilities in real estate transactions.  Environmental laws related to liability and cleanup of contaminated properties include the Federal Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Business Liability Relief and Revitalization Act ("the Brownfields Law"), and the Washington State Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA).  One way for a prospective purchaser to minimize liability for cleanup of contamination caused by a prior owner is to conduct an Environmental Site Assessment (ESA).

Parties who wish to assess the environmental condition of commercial and non-commercial real estate conduct ESAs on voluntary basis.  An ESA evaluates the historical uses and succession of owners or occupants of a site. Due to the unique history and circumstances associated with every real property, the scope of an ESA should be determined on a site-by-site basis.

When conducting an ESA, Environmental professionals at WES compile a thorough site history, conduct site reconnaissance and interviews with appropriate parties, and develop conclusions regarding recognized environmental conditions at the real property under investigation. A phase I ESA conducted by WES includes the following tasks:

• Review of federal, state, and local regulatory information pertinent to the property and surrounding properties

• Review of historic site information concerning past business practices

• Interviews with people familiar with the property

• Visual inspection of the property

• Provide an inventory of underground storage tanks on or near the property

• Assessment of environmental conditions and risks

• Report of findings, conclusions, and recommendations

The Washington State Department of Ecology recommends that prospective purchasers or real property seek the advice of professionals experienced in conducting ESAs.

WES professionals are alert to the changes in the practice of performing ESAs due to the passage of the 2002 Brownfields Law. The Brownfields Law required the EPA to develop regulations establishing standards and practices for how all appropriate inquiry are conducted. In general, the practice will remain the same as described in ASTM E 1527-00, however stricter definitions of who may conduct the assessment as an "environmental professional" are defined. The Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) was signed by the EPA Administrator and published in the Federal Register on August 26, 2004. They are still open to public comment at this time and have not been fully enacted. It is expected that ASTM E 1527 will be amended/updated before the final enactment of the AAI standards.