Environmental Due Diligence
If you are considering selling, buying, or refinancing a property, performing environmental due diligence is essential in identifying potential environmental liabilities. Without this due diligence, you may be at risk of extensive cleanup costs and other liabilities associated with a contaminated property.
Determining and managing potential liability is integral in reducing risk when purchasing a commercial property or oil and gas asset. A Phase I or Phase II Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), Pre-Construction ESA, or Limited ESA are tools that can be used to assess the historical and current uses of a property and identify recognized environmental conditions (RECs) prior to purchase.
These processes may limit liability if the property is found to be contaminated from prior releases of hazardous chemicals or petroleum products. Oxbow personnel have conducted hundreds of ESAs in multiple states and has years of experience performing ESAs on oil and gas assets and other commercial properties.
As an industry leader, we have successfully conducted ESA investigations on different sizes and types of properties, helping our clients avoid unnecessary expenses and mitigate potential risks. If you are about to undertake a major commercial real estate deal and require an ESA, or are not sure if you need to conduct an ESA, you can count on Oxbow to empower you with the insights to make an informed decision.
Phase I ESA Services
We conduct Phase I Environmental Site Assessment services to help potential property purchasers investigate the site and identify the likelihood of contamination. This assessment involves the review of the property’s current and historical regulatory records, a physical inspection of the site, and interviews with the owners and current occupants of the property.
At Oxbow, our Phase I Environmental Site Assessments are in line with ASTM E1527-21 standards. You can use our detailed reports to satisfy the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) All Appropriate Inquiry Rule (AAI) and qualify for innocent landowner protections under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).
Phase II ESA Services
Should our Phase I ESA indicate a potential REC or historical REC on the property, our environmental professionals can investigate the concerns further through Phase II Environmental Site Assessment. The goal of this phase is to corroborate or disprove contamination due to an identified REC. These assessments can also help determine how best to remediate the site and ensure it complies with relevant environmental regulations.
Pre-Construction and Limited ESAs
Oxbow Environmental can provide pre-construction or limited ESAs to identify the potential RECs on a property. These ESAs can either be field based or desktop based and are developed to ensure potential environmental impacts are realized and accounted for before construction begins or a property is purchased.
This process allows for avoidance of environmentally sensitive areas such as, wetlands and/or known threatened and endangered species habitat. Additionally, it ensures proper buffer zones are maintained around water bodies and can provide baseline data for project planning.
Pre-construction and limited ESAs do not qualify for CERCLA protections, but can be used for low-risk assets. The scope of these ESAs are customizable to the need of the purchaser and are successful tools for determining the likelihood of potential contamination on a property.
After the assessment, we can develop a plan to effectively manage these impacts and keep your project compliant with environmental regulations.
The ESA process can provide peace of mind that steps have been taken to reduce risk and liability in your purchase through assurances that environmental contamination is not likely. Information and data obtained from the ESA can offer the data necessary for the framework of Phase II ESA to evaluate the presence or extent of potential impacts to your property, or to develop a remediation plan to address impacts and contamination discovered during the assessment.
