STANDARDIZING ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS - A PRACTICAL PERSPECTIVE

The liability provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) have added a new twist to the concept of ''buyer beware'' in commercial real estate transactions. T he Phase I Environmental Assessment was developed partly to provide a defense against that liability. Recent attempts to improve that defens e by standardizing the approach to Phase I assessments may, in some ca ses, be counter-productive. This standardization has occurred at a tim e when the assessment market has created a surfeit of assessors, often with little practical training or experience. Some of these assessors have used the standards to develop a formulaic approach to assessment s, despite the fact that many sites warrant different approaches due t o differences in site characteristics and data quality. Every research step of the Phase I process-environmental and historical records revi ew, site reconnaissance, and interviews-has potential problems that de fy standardization. These problems must be properly understood to ensu re the adequacy of a site assessment.