Environmental Due Diligence

Property transactions require different levels of assessment and investigations. Stream GeoSciences provides the investigation and research experience to help its clients meet environmental obligations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We provide results and guidelines for buyers, sellers, owners, lenders and operators to evaluate the business risks so that they may make informed business decisions in property transactions.

Results of Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) provide the environmental conditions of a building or property. Our due diligence programs help our clients navigate and mitigate all EPA regulations, especially in the area of “All Appropriate Inquiry” (AAI).

AAI  is the formal process of assessing properties for the presence or potential presence of environmental contamination, it will evaluate historical and current use of the property in an effort to identify recognized environmental conditions (RECs) and historical recognized environmental conditions (HREC) in connection with the subject property, AAI is obtained by complete a Phase I environmental Site Assessment.

Phase I ESA ASTM E1527-21
The purpose of this Phase I ESA practice is to define good commercial and customary practice in the United States of America for conducting an environmental site assessment of a parcel of commercial real estate with respect to the range of contaminants within the scope of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. 9601) and petroleum products. This practice is intended to meet the EPA‘s AAI standards.

Phase II ESA E1903-11
This practice is intended for use on a voluntary basis by parties who wish to evaluate known releases or likely release areas identified by the user or Phase II Assessor, and/or to assess the presence or likely presence of substances, for legal or business reasons.

The Phase I ESA may reveal RECs that require a Phase II ESA subsurface investigation before a determination of liability can be made for a property.
The nature of historic and current operations at a Property, can also indicate that Phase II sampling, analysis, and assessment may be more appropriate than a Phase I ESA; For instance a historic or active gasoline station, mechanics shop, dry cleaners, or industrial facility may go straight to a Phase II ESA depending on the amount of information available for the property.