Project Highlights:
- Over 60 on-call phase I environmental site assessments throughout Southern California
- Several phase ii investigations conducted due to the identification of recognized environmental conditions (REC’s) and/or historic recognized environmental conditions (HREC’s)
- Lead and asbestos characterization and remediation oversight
- At several sites, identified REC’s and/or HREC’s which substantially altered property values, and in a couple of instances protected client from an acquisition of property with significant environmental liabilities
A Fortune 500 financial services holding company retained EEC Environmental (EEC) to perform due diligence investigations throughout Southern California. EEC was one of three consultants selected by the bank to perform Phase I and Phase II ESAs in the region. The bank commissioned EEC to perform the ESA’s to obtain liability protection and meet environmental due-diligence requirements on properties for which potential clients are interested in securing a loan or refinance existing loans. These assessments included the following:
- Inspecting sites to identify potential environmental liabilities, such as a vent or fill pipes to locate underground storage tanks (USTs), transformers or capacitors to identify potential PCB sources, asbestos-containing materials, hazardous chemical storage, and other sources of environmental contamination.
- Interviewing property managers to determine historical use and activities at the property.
- Reviewing environmental regulatory files maintained by state and local governments.
- Reviewing environmental regulatory databases, such as the National Priority List (NPL), State Hazardous Waste Sites list, and Leaking UST list.
- Reviewing neighboring properties to evaluate the potential for off-site contamination
- Researching aerial photographs, fire insurance maps, soil conservation surveys, city records, environmental liens, and environmental permits.
- Reviewing other available environmental information and reports.
Once all appropriate inquiries were complete, EEC personnel prepared written reports in accordance with ASTM Standard Practices and the lender’s requirements. EEC’s reports detail information gathered during the assessment, summarize issues of RECs, present conclusions, and provide recommendations.When findings from a Phase I environmental site assessments indicate the potential or likely presence of RECs or HRECs, EEC submits a written scope of work and cost estimate to the client for a Phase II subsurface investigation. Upon the client approval, EEC performs subsurface the investigations utilizing the most cost-effective and technically sound investigative method. Several investigative methods have been utilized on sites including geoprobe, hollow stem auger, hydropunch, and hand auger.
At several sites, environmental concerns discovered during the Phase I and Phase II investigations performed for the bank have resulted in the borrower and/or bank determining that the potential liabilities were too great to warrant the risk of loan approval for the site.
