WHY CONDUCT A PHASE I ESA?

Reasons for conducting a Phase I ESA are generally resumed to the following:

To prevent the purchase of a contaminated property without assessing the risk of ownership first.

To satisfy one of the requirements to qualify for the CERCLA’s “innocent landowner” defense, and avoid future cleanup and remediation responsibilities under the CERCLA.

To evaluate if it is worthy owning a contaminated property.

To help in the negotiation process prior to the property transaction.

To avoid future legal responsibilities

To identify environmental conditions prior to redevelopment of a property and to avoid undesired delay and budget exceedance.

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WHEN SHOULD A PHASE I ESA BE REQUESTED?

The main situations when a Phase I ESA should be requested are:

When purchasing a property, even if the bank will not require one. In the end, the owner of the property is responsible of the environmental conditions.

When selling a property, in order to identify, evaluate, and potentially remediate any environmental conditions and avoid holding future transactions.

When asked by a bank or lending institution.

Prior to redevelopment activities, in order to avoid surprises during the construction activities, and subsequent delay and budget exceedance.

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WHAT DOES A PHASE I CONSISTS OF?

The Phase I ESA process involves the following steps:

Search, investigation, and review of commonly known (historical  and current) information, which includes at minimum: historical aerial photographs; historical topographic maps; historical city directory of addresses and telephone numbers; deed records; plat maps; zoning maps; well logs; and preliminary title insurance (for environmental liens).

Search, investigation, and review of several databases of environmental and historical land use records associated with the subject property and the neighboring properties. Vortex GEC is using the databases provided by Environmental Data Resources (EDR). 

A site visit of the subject property, including all structures.  The objective of this site walk is to identify any obvious features that have generated a release and subsequently contaminated the subject property (or they might do so in the future). These features may include: underground and above ground storage tanks (UST and AST); pits; ponds; petroleum, chemical, and hazardous materials use and/or storage; polychlorinated biphenyl transformers; spills,  stains, and distressed vegetation; the historical and current use of the adjoining properties;
       
Environmental interviews with owners, occupants, neighbors, and/or local government officials regarding the subject property’s history.

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For more information please contact us at info@vortexgec.com