ASTM E1527

EPA Issues Guidance For Continuing or Suspending Response Actions During COVID-19 Crisis

Brownfields, CERCLA, enforcement, Environmental Due Diligence, Hazardous Waste, oil spills, PCBs, Underground Storage Tanks, vapor intrusion, Water Pollution / By

In our post discussing EPA’s Enforcement Discretion guidance, we mentioned that EPA was working on guidance for performing remedial actions during the Covid-19 crisis. On April 10th, EPA issued its “Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19” (Interim Guidance) to regional offices when determining to continue, reduce, or pause on-site […]

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Consultants in Bank Lawsuit Saved by the (Statute of Limitations) Bell

CERCLA, consultant malpractice, Environmental Due Diligence / By

Christmas arrived early for two environmental consulting firms when a federal district court ruled in Bank United, N.A. v. Merritt Environmental Consulting Corp, 2018 U.S. Dist. Lexis 214448 (S.D.N.Y. 12/20/2018) that a lender had waited too long to file a complaint against the consultants for failing to identify radioactive contamination in a phase 1 environmental

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Does A Phase 1 Have To Be Issued To The Person Seeking To Comply With AAI?

CERCLA, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence / By

Purchasers who want to be able to assert the CERCLA Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser (BFPP), Innocent Landowner (ILO) or Continuous Property Owner (CPO) landowner liability protections (LLPs) need to conduct a pre-acquisition investigation that complies with EPA’s All Appropriate Inquires (AAI) rule. A question that is surfacing with surprising frequency is if the phase 1

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Major CMBS Lender Requiring EPs to Perform Site Inspections

Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, Lender Liability / By

We have previously discussed discussed here and in other forums how the All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule issued by EPA in 2005 is deeply flawed and has directly contributed to a worsening in the quality of phase 1 reports. This is ironic outcome since the reason EPA was instructed in the  2002 amendments to CERCLA  to issue

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Problems Emerge with New CREC Definition

Brownfields, CERCLA, consultant malpractice, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, Lender Liability, vapor intrusion / By

After a little more than six months after ASTM issued its new E1527-13 Phase 1 standard practice, problems are emerging over the new definition Controlled Recognized Environmental Condition (CREC) definition. The difficulties are related to the definition itself and differences among state environmental programs. Before discussing the CREC problems, a little background might be helpful

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EPA Recognizes E1527-13 But Preamble Raises Specter of Retroactive LIability For Past Phase 1 Reports that Did Not Assess Vapor Intrusion

Brownfields, CERCLA, common law, consultant malpractice, Corporate and Real Estate Transactions, Environmental Due Diligence, vapor intrusion / By

On December 30th, the  federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule in the Federal Register  (78 FR 79319) recognizing the new ASTM E1527-13 phase 1 standard practice as an approved method for complying with the All Appropriate Inquires (AAI) rule. As explained below, while the preamble to the final rule is an improvement to

EPA Recognizes E1527-13 But Preamble Raises Specter of Retroactive LIability For Past Phase 1 Reports that Did Not Assess Vapor Intrusion Read More »

Time to Revisit AAI EP Definition?

CERCLA, Environmental Due Diligence / By

Many environmental lawyers, consultants and professional organizations were deeply disappointed when EPA bowed to pressure from other government agencies and severely weakened the definition of Environmental Professional (EP) in its “All Appropriate Inquires” (AAI) rule that was published on November 1, 2005. The EP definition in the proposed AAI rule included minimum levels of education

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