ESA

Hello, I hope you are having a wonderful day! Your day is about t0 get even better now that you are reading my blog. The blog topic for today is all about site assessments.  I was in an environmental science block class in high school. We briefly went over these site assessments in class so I have a little bit of background with it. In the united states an environmental site assessment Is a type of report prepared for a real estate place that identifies potential or existing environmental contamination liabilities. The analysis, often called an Environmental Site Assessment, typically addresses both the underlying land as well as physical improvements to the property. There are 3 types of environmental site assessment. The first one I am going to talk about is phase 1 assessment. There are many reasons for a phase 1 assessment to take place. Some of these reasons are…

Purchase of real property by a person or entity not previously on title .Contemplation by a new lender to provide a loan on the subject real estate .Partnership buyout or principal redistribution of ownership. Application to a public agency for change of use or other discretionary land use permit. Existing property owner’s desire to understand toxic history of the property. Compulsion by a regulatory agency who suspects toxic conditions on the site. Finally, divestiture of properties.

The phase 1 assessment  is basically the first step in the process. You can’t have a phase 2 assist without first conducting a phase 1 assessment. Some of the things a worker will do while conducting a phase 1 assessment include but are not limited to…inspection of the site. Using your eyes to spot problems. Investigate prior records to spot problems there. And finally conduct interviews with previous owners of real estate property to find problems.

The next step I am going to talk about is the phase 2 assessment portion of the site assessment process. So, lets say we receive our phase 1 site assessment report back and there is a chance of contaminants. For instance, depending on the results of the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, Phase 2 work could include surficial and sub-surficial soil analysis, or groundwater analysis, or installing monitoring wells, or indoor air sampling, mold sampling, asbestos sampling, lead sampling, etc. The need for any sampling or testing in Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessments is based purely on the findings of the Phase 1. Unfortunately, since there's usually a fair amount of sampling or testing, a Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment tends to cost significantly more money than a Phase 1. It also takes longer. You need the time to sample, monitor, or test results, as this is the only way to really get a good handle on releases at the property, or to confirm the absence of contamination.
In conclusion, all three of the environmental site assessment feed off each other. You can’t have a phase 2 without a phase 1. To learn more about these site assessments. Click on the link below.