Environmental Site Assessments

JDSupra.com On November 1, 2021, ASTM International released its revised standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. On March 14, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) published a Direct Final Rule that confirmed the new ASTM standard, ASTM E1527-21, could be used to satisfy the EPA’s All Appropriate Inquiry (“AAI”) regulations. However, on…

JD Supra Washington, DC Environmental Protection Agency, on March 14, 2022, issued both a final rule incorporating revised ASTM International standard practices, ASTM International’s E1527–21 ‘‘Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process,’’ and a proposed rule soliciting comment on this action. The final rule incorporates the new ASTM standard as one of three…

National Law Review Washington, DC ASTM International released its revised standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments on November 1, 2021, and went into effect on January 1, 2022. The new standard (ASTM E1527-21) updates the 2013 version of the standard (ASTM E1527-13), which is widely used by the commercial real estate industry. This Client Advisory highlights…

JD Supra by Joseph Brendel At the same time that Federal courts are strictly enforcing the requirements for All Appropriate Inquiries, ASTM International (“ASTM”) has issued additional, potentially challenging revisions to the E1527 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process (“Phase I Standard”). The revisions to the Phase I Standard…

JD Supra Washington, DC – The current (E1527-13) version of the ASTM Phase I standard, used by EPA and the states to determine whether sufficient environmental due diligence has been conducted for a purchaser to utilize CERCLA defenses, is scheduled to be updated this year. While the revised standard has not been finalized, several possible…

October 2001 In the coming days Congress is expected to enact, for the first time, statutory authority clarifying what deems a person to have undertaken all appropriate inquiry to satisfy a defense to Superfund (CERCLA) liability. A “Transaction Screen” may well satisfy the appropriate inquiry standard. Transaction Screen is a term of art for a…

A historic settlement announced today with the Kerr-McGee Corporation and certain of its affiliates and their parent Anadarko Petroleum Corporation will greatly benefit environmental cleanups at superfund sites and reimburse the federal government for substantial cleanup costs. The defendants agree to pay $5.15 billion to settle the case, of which approximately $4.4 billion will be…

National – On December 30, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended its All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) Rule, codified in 40 CFR Part 312, to include a specific reference to the updated ASTM International Standard E1527-13 for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESA). The amendment establishes that compliance by qualified “environmental professionals” with the…

A month and a half after the close of voting on a revised version, the ASTM E1527 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Standard is getting closer to being issued with changes for 2013. In October, the task group met at ASTM Committee Week meetings in Atlanta, GA. to discuss negative votes and comments on a…

On Wednesday, April 18, an ASTM E50 task group consisting of environmental consultants, lenders, attorneys, EPA and other interested parties met in Phoenix, AZ to discuss revisions to the ASTM E1527-05 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Standard. The last time the standard was updated was in 2005, when EPA released the details of its All Appropriate…