"Why Just treat the symptoms, when we need to eliminate the sources."

Phase I Environmental Assessment

The purpose of a Phase I Environmental Assessment (ESA) is to determine if Real Estate is or has been contaminated by solid or hazardous waste. The ESA involves a review of records, a site inspection, and interviews with owners, occupants, neighbors and local government officials.

 Contamination can result from activities that took place on the site or come from activities at a nearby property. The records and interviews, at this stage, provide the best available information to determine that the site or properties surrounding the site have been classified as contaminated according to federal or state regulations. During this phase no intrusive data are collected from the site or surrounding properties. All information and records collected will be presented in a Report for your review.

Database Search

City Directories

Fire Insurance Maps

Historic Aerials

Survey & FOIA

Site Visit

Report

The final step is a report generated under the industry standard that is accepted by banks and the Small Business Administration (SBA). Most Phase 1 ESAs come back fine, while others will identify what are called Recognized Environmental Conditions (RECs) which may need further investigation. That deeper dive to understand the RECs is called a Phase 2 ESA.









Phase II Environmental Assessment 

If a Phase I ESA identifies potential contamination of the site by hazardous materials, a Phase II ESA may

be conducted. The Phase II ESA includes sampling and laboratory analysis to confirm the presence of

hazardous materials. Some of the tests that may be performed include:

• surface soil and water samples
• subsurface soil borings
• groundwater monitoring well installation, sampling, and analysis (may be appropriate on

              neighboring properties as well to determine the presence of contamination)

• drum sampling (if any were let on the property)
• sampling of dry wells, floor drains and catch basins
• transformer/capacitor sampling for Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
• geophysical testing for buried tanks and drums
• testing of underground storage tanks

 All information, data and laboratory analysis collected, will be presented in a Report for your review.