Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESA)
Environmental Site Assessments are performed prior to property transfer or the closing of industrial and commercial real-estate transactions to determine if recognized environmental conditions exist on a subject property.
A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) is the gold standard for evaluating the environmental liability associated with a real estate asset. A Phase I ESA is used to identify actual and potential environmental concerns and contamination at a Site which may impact the property value or affect claim to an “innocent land owner” exemption following acquisition.
A Phase I ESA is performed prior to property transfer or the closing of industrial and commercial real-estate transactions to determine if recognized environmental conditions exist on a subject property. American Environmental performs ESAs in accordance with the most recent American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard E 1527-21, Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessment: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. This practice is the industry standard for conducting ESAs and is the basis for justifying due diligence satisfies the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) requirements for Landowner Liability Protections.
American Environmental Phase I ESA includes:
Our Phase I ESAs will protect your assets by offering the degree of detail required to legally meet your environmental due diligence obligations as defined in ASTM E 1527-21. Our reports are guaranteed to meet or exceed the ASTM Standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments.
Financial institutions frequently require that a Phase I ESA be conducted to accomplish this task. The purpose of the Phase I Environmental report is to identify, to the extent feasible, recognized environmental conditions in connection with the property. This assessment will provide you with information to assist in making an informed business decision. Overlooking this concern can cost you substantial future environmental expenditures, even if you did not create or contribute to the contamination.
Who May Conduct a Phase I ESA
A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment must be performed by an environmental professional as specified in Section 7.5.1. No practical standard can be designed to eliminate the role judgement and have the value and need for experience in the party performing the inquiry. The professional judgement of an environmental professional is, consequently, vital to the performance of all appropriate inquiries.
American Environmental
We are well versed in numerous, lender-specific scopes of work. Our ESAs include extensive documentation of a property’s environmental condition, providing resolution of detected recognized environmental conditions and, when necessary, recommendations to bring these conditions to closure.