1.1 Purpose8212;The purpose of this practice is to define good commercial and customary practice in the United States of America for conducting a Phase I environmental site assessment of a property 120 acres or greater of forestland or rural property or with a developed use of only managed forestland and/or agriculture with respect to the range of contaminants within the scope of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and petroleum products. The property need not be adjoining; however, the separate areas should have substantially the same general land use and be part of the same transaction. The property may contain isolated areas of non-forestland and non-rural property. As such, this practice is intended to permit a user to satisfy one of the requirements to qualify for the innocent landowner defense to CERCLA liability; that is, the practices that constitute "all appropriate inquiry into the previous ownership and uses of the property consistent with good commercial or customary practice" as defined in 42 USC 167; 9601(35)(B). (See Appendix X1 for an outline of CERCLA''s liability and defense provisions).
1.1.1 Recognized Environmental Conditions8212;In defining a standard of good commercial and customary practice for conducting an environmental site assessment of a parcel of property, the goal of the processes established by this practice is to identify recognized environmental conditions. The term recognized environmental conditions means the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products on a property under conditions that indicate an existing release, a past release, or a material threat of a release of any hazardous substances or petroleum products into structures on the property or into the ground, groundwater, or surface water of the property. The term includes hazardous substances or petroleum products even under conditions in compliance with laws. The scope of the work in Section 12 (Non-Scope Considerations) also applies to conditions that would affect the quality of water and threatened and endangered species on a property (as defined in the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act specific to non-point source BMP deviations and the taking of threatened and endangered species). The term is not intended to include de minimis conditions that generally do not present a material risk of harm to public health or the environment or that generally would not be the subject of an enforcement action if brought to the attention of appropriate governmental agencies.
1.1.2 Three Related Practices8212;This practice is closely related to Practices E 1527 and E 1528. Both E 1527 and E 1528 are environmental site assessments for commercial real estate (see 4.3). This practice also shares similar protocols with Appendix guidance documents X3 and X4: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Guides for Clean Water Act Non-Point Source Considerations and Threatened and Endangered Species Considerations on Forestland or Rural Property.
1.1.3 Petroleum Products8212;Petroleum products are included within the scope of this practice because they are of concern with respect to many parcels of forestland or rural property and current custom and usage is to include an inquiry into the presence of petroleum products when doing an environmental site assessment of forestland or rural property. Inclusion of petroleum products within the scope of this practice is not based upon the applicability, if any, of CERCLA to petroleum products. (See Appendix X1 for discussion of petroleum exclusion to CERCLA liability.)
......
Copyright ©2024 All Rights Reserved