Air Resources Group, LLC Air Quality and Environmental Services

Environmental Site Assessments

In today’s business environment, potential landowners and lenders including developers, banks, insurance companies, and corporations are making property decisions influenced by the identification of potential environmental impacts.

Our litigious society requires a proactive perspective in regard to identifying potential liabilities and liability protection. An ESA provides the client a clear approach on how to meet industry, federal, state, and local standards for liability protection, and will meet the buyer or seller's needs in terms of due diligence . ARG's team provides the savvy and expertise to meet these objectives.

Industrial and commercial markets often times dictate strict deadlines and truncated timetables to complete ESAs.  ARG has the capacity to meet our clients’ time requirements while providing a comprehensive evaluation and analysis.

The ARG team follows the Standard Practice for Environmental Assessment methods when conducting an ESA.  Using the ASTM methods, property can be evaluated in varying degrees of depth:

• A Transaction Screen can provide a limited evaluation of environmental risk associated with a property.  These confidential evaluations do not provide CERCLA landowner liability protections.
• Phase 1 ESAs satisfy one requirement to qualify for landowner liability protections.  ARG follows the ASTM 1527-05 method for Phase 1 ESAs to ultimately identify any Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs).  This process is the minimum standard for most liability protections under EPA’s Superfund Law (CERCLA).
• When RECs are identified, a more intrusive Phase II ESA may be necessary, especially to provide CERCLA liability protection.  These assessments provide further evaluation of the RECs to obtain sufficient information regarding the composition and extent of the contamination to assist in making informed business decisions about the property, quantify costs to remediate, and to satisfy the innocent purchaser defense under CERCLA.

Small Dollars:  Potentially Big Risks

ARG uses its most senior and experienced personnel in the performance of ESA’s.  We believe that it is almost self-evident that these small dollar projects provide significant liability protections for our clients.  In other words, our experience and skills can save you big money!

Transaction Screens
ARG performs Transaction Screen ESAs in accordance with ASTM 1528-06.  These assessments include a site reconnaissance, a historical documents search including local, state, tribal,  and federal governments records and databases, current owner(s), occupant(s), and/or operator(s)  questionnaires and/or interviews, and a final report.

The Transaction Screen Assessments are less costly than a Phase I ESA and may provide a limited assessment of potential RECs.  These assessments do not provide sufficient evidence for the innocent landowner defense, contiguous property owner defense, or the bona-fide prospective purchaser limitations on liability.  Thus, transaction screens are performed primarily on low-risk properties or small loan transactions.

Phase I ESAs

ARG personnel have completed Phase I evaluations for hundreds of sites, including industrial, commercial, residential, and undeveloped properties.  Using ASTM Method 1527-05, a Phase I ESA will determine if any RECs are present.

Completion of a Phase I is the minimum standard to qualify as a “bona fide purchaser” under CERCLA’s “innocent landowner” defense, or contiguous property owner defense.  Critical for liability protection is the use of our expertise in determining the appropriate level of inquiry and scope of work necessary to qualify for such protection.  Information developed in the course of an assessment may require a change in the scope of work.

The scope of work for a Phase I ESA generally includes:

• Property of Interest and Adjoining Properties Visual Inspection
• Interviews of Current/Previous Owner(s), Operators, or Occupants
• Historical records review, including land title and lien records
• Regulatory Database Searches including local, state, tribal, or federal records (spills, hazardous waste sites, tank registration, etc.)
• Identification of potential RECs and recommendations for further RECs investigation, if necessary and appropriate
• Report of Findings including supporting documentation

Phase II ESAs

If the Phase I ESA identifies RECs, a Phase II ESA will address the nature and extent of those impacts.  Specifically, based upon the work scope defined in the Phase I ESA results, investigation of existing structures, surficial soils and waters, subsurface soils, groundwater, and/or vapor intrusion can be identified and performed by our qualified team using ASTM 1903-97.

At the completion of a Phase II ESA, the work product, at a minimum, would determine (1) the assessment provided sufficient information to render a professional opinion that no reasonable basis exists to suspect the presence of hazardous or petroleum substances at the property associated with the RECs under assessment, or (2) the assessment has confirmed the presence of hazardous or petroleum substances at the property associated with disposal or release.  This ESA is not intended to satisfy the level of inquiry required by state or federal regulations to remediate the property.  The ESA could provide an assessment of potential regulatory concerns, remedial measures, and ballpark cost estimates for remediation of significant REC’s.

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