Environmental site assessments (ESAs) are vital tools for corporate managers, investors, borrowers, and lenders to meet legal, financial and ethical needs for due diligence research on properties before purchase, sale, development, refinancing, or foreclosure. The threat of litigation over damage to natural resources or human health and the potential and actual cost of remedial action are important considerations with every property transaction. Environmental site assessments evaluate existing environmental problems from past operations and potential environmental problems from current or proposed operations at a site.
Most environmental site assessments are Phase I ESAs. A Phase I ESA includes the following components:
- An inspection of the subject property.
- A review of pertinent records for evidence of present and historical use of the
subject and adjacent properties.
- Interviews with current owners and occupants as well as local government
officials.
- Evaluation of information gathered and development of a report.
- In some cases, samples are collected of building materials to determine if PCBs, asbestos and/or lead are present. If contamination is detected or suspected additional sampling for soil or groundwater may be needed - this leads into a "Phase II" assessment.
Phase I ESA reports generally include the following information:
- Executive Summary - Summarizes all potential environmental concerns identified or disclosed as existing on a subject property and/or adjacent or nearby properties
- Introduction - Contains general information on the Purpose, Methodology, and Scope of Services for the Phase I ESA, as well as which parities granted Authorization and Access, a Definition of Subject Property Boundaries, the Warranty, and the Limitations of the Phase I ESA.
- Subject Property Description - Describes the Location, Immediate Boundaries, Dimensions, Function, Zoning, Improvements, Utilities, Topography and Drainage Patterns, Geology, and Soil Characteristics of a subject property.
- Adjacent/Near Properties Description - Describes the land use of properties immediately adjacent to and/or near the subject property to a distance at which potential environmental concerns on those properties will no longer represent a concern to the subject property.
- Historical Research - Includes the reviews of historical information sources such as topographic maps, aerial photographs and city directories in an effort to determine all past land uses of a subject and adjacent properties.
- Regulatory Agencies Research - Lists the reviewed regulatory agency databases and summarizes the sites which are potential environmental concerns to the subject property
- Interviews and Other Information - Presents information on a subject property or adjacent properties disclosed through persons knowledgeable about those properties, as well as other information including radon gas concentrations and wetlands status.
- Potential Environmental Concerns - Summarizes the available information on potential environmental concerns identified or disclosed to exist on a subject property or adjacent/near properties.
- ESA Observations and Recommendations - Presents the significant environmental concerns associated with a subject property and/or adjacent or nearby properties, and recommends what steps should be taken to address those concerns.
- Appendices - Includes copies of reproducible information sources reviewed during the Phase I ESA, as well as an area vicinity map and a site diagram detailing any potential environmental concerns.
Who Would Benefit From a Phase I Survey?
Phase I ESAs are often conducted on properties at the request of banks, insurance companies, real estate financing companies, industrial companies, law firms, public and government agencies. Landowners such as private companies and public institutions want to ensure that any property they acquire is either free of contamination, or that the contamination can be identified to determine the cost of remediation, and that cost factored into the selling price. Anyone considering purchasing commercial property, or property that may have been used commercially in the past, should consider a Phase I ESA. Similarly, property owners who wish to sell a property often have a Phase I ESA conducted before they put the property on the market in order to correct any problems found, thus getting a better price.