Hands & Associates, Inc. is committed
to providing our customers with quality work to reduce risk of
potential liability of contaminated property. By performing a
thorough and careful review early during the Phase I ESA
process, we are able to identify and evaluate any past
environmental activities which may reduce cost on any further
investigations. Our main goal is to intelligently inform
customers of any potential recognized environmental conditions
on the property that they may make an informed decision of the
next step.
HANDS can guide you through the maze of
environmental regulations dealing with property transfers. We
perform Phase I ESAs with the goal of protecting customers
from liability from possible past contamination of property.
Sources of contamination that may exist due to former
manufacturing and commercial operations. Although certain
follow-up tasks may be required for liability protection based
on the findings of a Phase I ESA, HANDS explains your options
and focuses on minimizing costs. If required after a Phase I
ESA, HANDS assists with the evaluation, planning, and
performance of any supplemental environmental work required to
meet the best interests of our customers. Specifically,
Michigan has the Baseline Environmental Assessment Program
that is available in certain situations to provide
environmental liability protection for new owners of property
that have a certain level of environmental contamination
present.
INTRODUCTION
We provide this short introduction to our
real estate transfer service at Hands & Associates, Inc.
to give you a brief overview of the environmental
due-diligence procedures in Michigan and to introduce you to
our Company.
The typical flow of environmental
due-diligence for purchasers of commercial property in
Michigan is the following:
Step 1: Phase I Environmental Site
Assessment
Prospective purchasers of property usually
perform a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) to
determine the likelihood of contamination being present from
past operations at a property. It is a non-invasive assessment
based on a historical review and site inspection.
The Phase I is usually conducted in
accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials
(ASTM) standards (ASTM Standard E 1527-97). The Phase I ESA
does not involve the collection or analysis of samples, rather
we review the history of the site and perform a visual
inspection following our well-structured and recognized
process for historical inquiries. The result of the Phase I
ESA is a determination of the likelihood of contaminated soil
and/or groundwater at the property. If contamination is
suspected, we would recommend areas for further investigation.
Step 2: Phase II Environmental Site
Assessment (if necessary based on Phase I)
If we identify areas suspected of
contamination from past practices at the site (i.e. liquid
chemicals usage, storage tanks, etc), through the Phase I
process, a Phase II ESA is performed to collect samples to
determine if impacts are present. We design the sampling
program with the information from the Phase I such as the type
of contaminants suspected and the location of contaminants
suspected. The sampling usually involves drilling soil borings
and collecting soil and groundwater samples for laboratory
analysis.
Step 3: Baseline Environmental
Assessment (if necessary based on Phase II)
We compare the results of the laboratory
analyses of the samples collected in the Phase II
investigation to the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality’s (MDEQ) Tables of Cleanup Criteria for soil or
groundwater. Basically, if the sample result
"numbers" are above the residential cleanup criteria
values, the MDEQ terms the site a "Facility". If the
property is known to be a "Facility", the new owner
can gain protection from future liability (approved by the DEQ)
of the existing known contamination if they perform a Baseline
Environmental Assessment (BEA) within 45 days of purchase of
the property.
