Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
(OP)
Does a Phase II ESA only include testing of soil, groundwater, and soil gas? If there is a structure at the site which may have lead paint and/or asbestos tiles, do these need to be tested as part of the Phase II? It was not clear from reading the ASTM.





RE: Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
Phase I's scope is "visually inspect", review site's and environ's history, check government records to see if its on any list of suspect contamination. One might argue looking at government lists is actually part of the historical review. Phase I was "No testing". If the Phase I concludes that the site may be contaminated, the Phase II tests to confirm or refute what the Phase I speculates.
One does not need a Phase II to look for lead-based paint, asbestos, radon, hazardous waste depositories, or petroleum releases. The list of "environmental liabilities" goes on and on. Most owners cannot afford to look for everything. The Phase I comes up with a short list of "maybes". The Phase II tests for the "maybes". The key point of Phase I and II is to avoid CERCLA liability.
Other items of interest to a buyer are flood plains, wetlands, underground mine subsidence, noise, etc. These are not related to CERCLA liability but could cause problems for a buyer.
RE: Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
Obviously you want to catch every type of contaminate that could be on the site, however, budget and time play a role in that determination.
The problem I've seen is that if you clean up a site for a, b, and c contaminates, and 10 years later contaminate x,y,z show up, the company that bought the land under the consent order from the State or EPA, is now liable for it.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if the new company put the contaminates in the ground or they were already there, the previous Site Assessment/Clean Up missed it and the company is now stuck with the responsibility of cleaning it up.
I hope that helps.
RE: Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
If you have no particular reason to suspect these materials based on the Phase I and your site inspection, there is no regulatory obligation to test for them -- this is where the professional judgement part of the process comes in. If you think something may be asbestos based on your inspection, good conscience and ethics should tell you to recommend testing to your client.
RE: Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
RE: Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
But I didn't know that EPA addressed it again in the FR. That's interesting. I goes to show that EPA is aware of the issue.
Did they propose any recommended symmetry between CERCLA and the ASTM? Or any more clarification?