Panel discussion from the 2013 Client Summit
Pat Coyne, Moderator
Panelists:
John Sallman, Terracon
Julie Kilgore, Wasatch
Kathryn Peacock, Partner Engineering & Science
Untangling the Web of Confusion Around the ASTM E1527-13 Phase I StandardEDR
Presentation by Anthony J. Buonicore
Fall 2013 DDD Tour
For environmental due diligence firms, 2013 is the year of a new version of the ASTM E 1527 Phase I environmental site assessment standard. And updates to the protocol for Phase I ESAs trigger a period of education and eventually, adjustment. With release of the standard expected in early November, the challenge for environmental due diligence professionals is to be trained and ready to make the switch as soon as the standard is published. How ready is your team to make the transition? What areas are still confusing? Tune into the industry’s leading expert to clear up any confusion on:
-Status of the E1527-13 Standard
-How the E1527-13 Standard differs from the E1527-05 Standard
-Key questions related to:
The new REC/HREC/CREC definitions
Vapor migration screening
Regulatory file review
Phase I pricing
-Implementation suggestions
Clearing Up the Confusion About the ASTM E 1527-13 Phase I ESA StandardEDR
Presented by EDR’s Dianne Crocker and Pat Coyne at the 1/7/14 meeting of the Environmental Professionals Organization of Connecticut. Content provides an overview of the key areas of change in ASTM’s E 1527-13 Phase I environmental site assessment standard, the reactions from environmental professionals, attorneys, lenders and the U.S. EPA as well as an in-depth look at the challenges of conducting agency file review.
Outlines the different options for Environmental Due Diligence, how to interrupt Recognized Environmental Conditions outlined by your consultant and how to address them. Find out what a Phase II is and when it could be warranted. Presentation highlights difference between these two very different types of Environmental Assessments.
Intro to environmental site assessments (esa)Gordon Onley
This is a few slides from a 30 minute to 2 hour presentation I facilitate for commercial real estate professionals, on how environmental issues can impact properites.
Untangling the Web of Confusion Around the ASTM E1527-13 Phase I StandardEDR
Presentation by Anthony J. Buonicore
Fall 2013 DDD Tour
For environmental due diligence firms, 2013 is the year of a new version of the ASTM E 1527 Phase I environmental site assessment standard. And updates to the protocol for Phase I ESAs trigger a period of education and eventually, adjustment. With release of the standard expected in early November, the challenge for environmental due diligence professionals is to be trained and ready to make the switch as soon as the standard is published. How ready is your team to make the transition? What areas are still confusing? Tune into the industry’s leading expert to clear up any confusion on:
-Status of the E1527-13 Standard
-How the E1527-13 Standard differs from the E1527-05 Standard
-Key questions related to:
The new REC/HREC/CREC definitions
Vapor migration screening
Regulatory file review
Phase I pricing
-Implementation suggestions
Clearing Up the Confusion About the ASTM E 1527-13 Phase I ESA StandardEDR
Presented by EDR’s Dianne Crocker and Pat Coyne at the 1/7/14 meeting of the Environmental Professionals Organization of Connecticut. Content provides an overview of the key areas of change in ASTM’s E 1527-13 Phase I environmental site assessment standard, the reactions from environmental professionals, attorneys, lenders and the U.S. EPA as well as an in-depth look at the challenges of conducting agency file review.
Outlines the different options for Environmental Due Diligence, how to interrupt Recognized Environmental Conditions outlined by your consultant and how to address them. Find out what a Phase II is and when it could be warranted. Presentation highlights difference between these two very different types of Environmental Assessments.
Intro to environmental site assessments (esa)Gordon Onley
This is a few slides from a 30 minute to 2 hour presentation I facilitate for commercial real estate professionals, on how environmental issues can impact properites.
This presentation describes the current status of vapor intrusion regulation in Texas under existng rules and guidance documents, and points out the ambiguity and case-by-case nature of vapor intrustion regualtion in the State at this time.
The TCE Revolution and Its Permanent Impact on Environmental Due DiligenceEDR
EDR INSIGHT WEBINAR: THE TCE REVOLUTION AND ITS PERMANENT IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENTAL DUE DILIGENCE
June 24, 2015
Presented by:
-David Gillay, Partner and Chair of Brownfields & Environmental Transactional Diligence Practice Areas, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
-Dr. Michael Dourson, Ph.D., Alliance for Risk Assessment
Following decades of studies, scrutiny and debate, the U.S. EPA updated its TCE’s toxicity profile in the IRIS database, dramatically lowering the toxicity value. For transactional due diligence, this more stringent limit has important implications, including markedly more extensive and expensive cleanup processes. Given the focus on vapor migration in the new ASTM Phase I ESA standard, environmental professionals need to be increasingly cautious when making REC determinations and recommendations to clients.
Adding to the confusion is the significant variability in how regulators are using the updated TCE toxicity profile when making closure decisions at contaminated properties. For instance, U.S. EPA Regions 9, 10 and states like Minnesota, Indiana and Massachusetts (among others) have implemented profoundly different approaches to address TCE risk at contaminated sites. Thus, it is critical for environmental professionals to stay abreast of the how TCE guidance is being interpreted and applied across the country. In the latest development, the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry is proposing a dramatic change to its TCE toxicity profile for the first time in 18 years. The comment period ended on March 16, 2015, and if the update is finalized in its current form, there will be more intense scrutiny on exposure risks which will further complicate transactional due diligence.
This timely webinar will bring together an attorney and a national subject matter expert to address the various impacts of TCE’s toxicity update on transactional due diligence. This panel will help EPs answer the following questions:
-Does TCE in groundwater constitute a VEC and/or a REC?
-How should an EP manage variability in TCE standards in multi-state transactions?
-How can an EP take steps to minimize exposure to potential liability?
-How can an EP make sense of the science and available guidance?
-How should an EP communicate potential risks associated with TCE to clients?
Legal Issues In Real Estate Development Introduction to Environmental LawAllen Matkins
On March 27, 2013, Emily L. Murray presented, together with Eddie Arslanian of ENVIRON, a class on environmental law at USC, as part of a graduate class entitled ‘Legal Issues in Real Estate Development’ offered by USC's Masters in Real Estate Development (MRED) curriculum.
Environmental issues arise frequently on construction projects in Alberta. These issues can be complex and can result in regulatory investigations, litigation or significant unwanted publicity for project owners. This seminar by the Blakes Environmental Group will provide an overview of this rapidly changing area of the law and a discussion of best practices.
Vapor Intrusion Developments and Concerns in CaliforniaMeyers Nave
Vapor Intrusion is the migration of chemical vapors from the subsurface into commercial and residential buildings. Vapors can migrate through soil and into buildings through cracks in foundations, basements, crawl spaces and sewers. In February 2020, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the State Water Resources Control Board issued in draft form Supplemental Guidance: Screening and Evaluating Vapor Intrusion which recommends a consistent approach when screening buildings for subsurface vapor risk to occupants and describes a framework for deciding when cleanup and/or mitigation is needed.
The regulated community expected regulators to finalize the long-awaited Guidance, but that may be delayed now that recent studies performed by the DTSC have emerged showing that the Supplemental Vapor Intrusion Guidance may have gone too far in its estimation of risk. The delay may provide some relief to site owners due to concerns that the attenuation factors prescribed in the Guidance were too conservative and would have made it impossible to achieve closure for sites with soil vapor contamination.
Revisions to the ASTM E 1527 Standard: Three Insider’s PerspectiveEDR
Remember when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s All Appropriate Inquiries rule was promulgated in 2005? For the first time since then, there will soon be a new revision to the ASTM E 1527 Standard and the time to begin preparing your staff and educating your clients is now.
The E 1527-13 revision is the result of three years of discussion and debate among many dedicated stakeholders who spent countless hours at ASTM Phase I ESA Task Group meetings and on conference calls examining all parts of the standard and hammering out every word of the revision. The most significant revisions are in the areas of: REC definitions, agency file review, vapor migration/intrusion, user responsibilities and more.
For this event, EDR Insight is fortunate to have the input of three professionals—an environmental professional, a commercial real estate lender and an attorney—who were active with the revision process and who each devoted significant time and expertise to shaping the new revisions.
Join us for this important and timely event as the commercial lending and property risk management industry prepares to transition away from the -05 standard to E 1527-13.
Target Audience:
• Environmental due diligence professionals
• Environmental risk managers at financial institutions
Benefits to attendees:
• Insights into specific areas of revision and a deeper understanding of what drove the changes
• More clarity on REC-HREC-CREC definitions
• More clarity on agency file review
• An end user perspective from the lending sector
• An attorney’s take on what the changes mean in the construct of CERCLA liability and commercial property transactions
• Advice on how EPs and lenders should be preparing for E 1527-13
• Potential changes that end users may see in their Phase I ESA reports when E 1527-13 takes effect
This presentation describes the current status of vapor intrusion regulation in Texas under existng rules and guidance documents, and points out the ambiguity and case-by-case nature of vapor intrustion regualtion in the State at this time.
The TCE Revolution and Its Permanent Impact on Environmental Due DiligenceEDR
EDR INSIGHT WEBINAR: THE TCE REVOLUTION AND ITS PERMANENT IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENTAL DUE DILIGENCE
June 24, 2015
Presented by:
-David Gillay, Partner and Chair of Brownfields & Environmental Transactional Diligence Practice Areas, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
-Dr. Michael Dourson, Ph.D., Alliance for Risk Assessment
Following decades of studies, scrutiny and debate, the U.S. EPA updated its TCE’s toxicity profile in the IRIS database, dramatically lowering the toxicity value. For transactional due diligence, this more stringent limit has important implications, including markedly more extensive and expensive cleanup processes. Given the focus on vapor migration in the new ASTM Phase I ESA standard, environmental professionals need to be increasingly cautious when making REC determinations and recommendations to clients.
Adding to the confusion is the significant variability in how regulators are using the updated TCE toxicity profile when making closure decisions at contaminated properties. For instance, U.S. EPA Regions 9, 10 and states like Minnesota, Indiana and Massachusetts (among others) have implemented profoundly different approaches to address TCE risk at contaminated sites. Thus, it is critical for environmental professionals to stay abreast of the how TCE guidance is being interpreted and applied across the country. In the latest development, the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry is proposing a dramatic change to its TCE toxicity profile for the first time in 18 years. The comment period ended on March 16, 2015, and if the update is finalized in its current form, there will be more intense scrutiny on exposure risks which will further complicate transactional due diligence.
This timely webinar will bring together an attorney and a national subject matter expert to address the various impacts of TCE’s toxicity update on transactional due diligence. This panel will help EPs answer the following questions:
-Does TCE in groundwater constitute a VEC and/or a REC?
-How should an EP manage variability in TCE standards in multi-state transactions?
-How can an EP take steps to minimize exposure to potential liability?
-How can an EP make sense of the science and available guidance?
-How should an EP communicate potential risks associated with TCE to clients?
Legal Issues In Real Estate Development Introduction to Environmental LawAllen Matkins
On March 27, 2013, Emily L. Murray presented, together with Eddie Arslanian of ENVIRON, a class on environmental law at USC, as part of a graduate class entitled ‘Legal Issues in Real Estate Development’ offered by USC's Masters in Real Estate Development (MRED) curriculum.
Environmental issues arise frequently on construction projects in Alberta. These issues can be complex and can result in regulatory investigations, litigation or significant unwanted publicity for project owners. This seminar by the Blakes Environmental Group will provide an overview of this rapidly changing area of the law and a discussion of best practices.
Vapor Intrusion Developments and Concerns in CaliforniaMeyers Nave
Vapor Intrusion is the migration of chemical vapors from the subsurface into commercial and residential buildings. Vapors can migrate through soil and into buildings through cracks in foundations, basements, crawl spaces and sewers. In February 2020, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the State Water Resources Control Board issued in draft form Supplemental Guidance: Screening and Evaluating Vapor Intrusion which recommends a consistent approach when screening buildings for subsurface vapor risk to occupants and describes a framework for deciding when cleanup and/or mitigation is needed.
The regulated community expected regulators to finalize the long-awaited Guidance, but that may be delayed now that recent studies performed by the DTSC have emerged showing that the Supplemental Vapor Intrusion Guidance may have gone too far in its estimation of risk. The delay may provide some relief to site owners due to concerns that the attenuation factors prescribed in the Guidance were too conservative and would have made it impossible to achieve closure for sites with soil vapor contamination.
Revisions to the ASTM E 1527 Standard: Three Insider’s PerspectiveEDR
Remember when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s All Appropriate Inquiries rule was promulgated in 2005? For the first time since then, there will soon be a new revision to the ASTM E 1527 Standard and the time to begin preparing your staff and educating your clients is now.
The E 1527-13 revision is the result of three years of discussion and debate among many dedicated stakeholders who spent countless hours at ASTM Phase I ESA Task Group meetings and on conference calls examining all parts of the standard and hammering out every word of the revision. The most significant revisions are in the areas of: REC definitions, agency file review, vapor migration/intrusion, user responsibilities and more.
For this event, EDR Insight is fortunate to have the input of three professionals—an environmental professional, a commercial real estate lender and an attorney—who were active with the revision process and who each devoted significant time and expertise to shaping the new revisions.
Join us for this important and timely event as the commercial lending and property risk management industry prepares to transition away from the -05 standard to E 1527-13.
Target Audience:
• Environmental due diligence professionals
• Environmental risk managers at financial institutions
Benefits to attendees:
• Insights into specific areas of revision and a deeper understanding of what drove the changes
• More clarity on REC-HREC-CREC definitions
• More clarity on agency file review
• An end user perspective from the lending sector
• An attorney’s take on what the changes mean in the construct of CERCLA liability and commercial property transactions
• Advice on how EPs and lenders should be preparing for E 1527-13
• Potential changes that end users may see in their Phase I ESA reports when E 1527-13 takes effect
The legislative regime affecting the development and operation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility and marine terminal project in British Columbia (B.C.), includes government approvals, licences, permits and other regulatory requirements typically associated with such a project. While each project must be analyzed for its own specific permitting requirements, this overview provides an outline of the major environmental protection and non-environmental project permits, licences, etc., that are typically needed to undertake LNG terminal construction and operation activities.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Let's dive deeper into the world of ODC! Ricardo Alves (OutSystems) will join us to tell all about the new Data Fabric. After that, Sezen de Bruijn (OutSystems) will get into the details on how to best design a sturdy architecture within ODC.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Search and Society: Reimagining Information Access for Radical FuturesBhaskar Mitra
The field of Information retrieval (IR) is currently undergoing a transformative shift, at least partly due to the emerging applications of generative AI to information access. In this talk, we will deliberate on the sociotechnical implications of generative AI for information access. We will argue that there is both a critical necessity and an exciting opportunity for the IR community to re-center our research agendas on societal needs while dismantling the artificial separation between the work on fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics in IR and the rest of IR research. Instead of adopting a reactionary strategy of trying to mitigate potential social harms from emerging technologies, the community should aim to proactively set the research agenda for the kinds of systems we should build inspired by diverse explicitly stated sociotechnical imaginaries. The sociotechnical imaginaries that underpin the design and development of information access technologies needs to be explicitly articulated, and we need to develop theories of change in context of these diverse perspectives. Our guiding future imaginaries must be informed by other academic fields, such as democratic theory and critical theory, and should be co-developed with social science scholars, legal scholars, civil rights and social justice activists, and artists, among others.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
3. ASTM 1527-13 Standard
For the first time in eight years, there is a revision to
the ASTM protocol for conducting Phase I ESAs.
While the key areas of change are known, the ways
that EPs and lenders are responding to them is not.
In this track, we will dig into three specific areas of
change to illuminate how firms may adjust
practices. A panel of insiders will candidly share
their views on the new requirements, managing
client communication in the areas of REC’s, vapor
and agency file reviews, and E 1527-13’s impact on
delivery time and pricing.
4. Kathryn Peacock
• Serves as the Western Regional Manager for
Partner Engineering and Science, a national
environmental and engineering due diligence
consulting firm. Kathryn has been practicing in
the environmental and engineering due diligence
field for over 12 years.
• Kathryn has worked on thousands of
transactions, subsurface investigations, and site
remediation projects. Her clientele includes
many of the nation’s largest lenders, real estate
investors, and corporations.
5. John Sallman
• Assistant Director of Environmental Services at
Terracon Consultants, Inc. Prior to this role,
John was Office Manager of Terracon’s Fort
Worth office and Environmental Department
Manager of Terracon’s Dallas office. John’s
expertise is in Phase I ESA’s, risk based
corrective action and brownfields projects. As
an original member of the ASTM 2600
committee, John helped craft the current
standard for vapor encroachment screening.
6. Julie H. Kilgore
• President of Wasatch Environmental, an
environmental science and engineering firm
based out of Salt Lake City, Utah.
– 20 years experience
– Chair of Committee E50 on Environmental
Assessment, Risk Management, and Corrective Action
– Chair of E1527 the task group
– Served on the ASTM International Board of Directors
– Appointed by EPA as one of 25 negotiators to assist
EPA in developing All Appropriate Inquiry regulation
7. Background
• Sunset provision – if not revised, standard
would sunset.
• Could either re-ballot as is, or make some
changes.
• Key consideration: Don’t mess up alignment
w/ EPA AAI Rule.
• Task group’s mission: strengthen & clarify
more than change.
8. Agenda
• Focus on three areas
• Impacts on cost and pricing
• When is it coming out?
9. Key Revisions
• Major
– RECs
– Vapor Migration
– Regulatory File Reviews
• Minor
– User Responsibilities
– Industrial/Manufacturing Properties
– Appendicies
11. REC, HREC, CREC
• Received over 100 questions in the two webinars we hosted in
March and April on the topic of HREC.
• EP’s are trying to apply the concept on real world scenario’s
they are familiar with.
13. Simplified REC Definition
• Old Definition:
– “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, ground
water, or surface water of the property. The term includes
hazardous substances or petroleum products even under
conditions in compliance with laws.”
• New Definition:
– “the presence or likely presence of any hazardous substances or
petroleum products in, on, or at a property: (1) due to any
release to the environment; (2) under conditions indicative of a
release to the environment; or (3) under conditions that pose a
material threat of a future release to the environment.”
14. Revised HREC Definition
• Here's the -05 HREC definition
• 3.2.39 historical recognized environmental condition—an environmental condition
which in the past would have been considered a recognized environmental
condition, but which may or may not be considered a recognized environmental
condition currently. The final decision rests with the environmental professional
and will be influenced by the current impact of the historical recognized
environmental condition on the property. If a past release of any hazardous
substances or petroleum products has occurred in connection with the property
and has been remediated, with such remediation accepted by the responsible
regulatory agency (for example, as evidenced by the issuance of a no further
action letter or equivalent), this condition shall be considered an historical
recognized environmental condition and included in the findings section of the
Phase I Environmental Site Assessment report. The environmental professional
shall provide an opinion of the current impact on the property of this historical
recognized environmental condition in the opinion section of the report. If this
historical recognized environmental condition is determined to be a recognized
environmental condition at the time the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is
conducted, the condition shall be identified as such and listed in the conclusions
section of the report.
15. Revised HREC Definition
• New Definition
– “a past release of any hazardous substances or petroleum
products that has occurred in connection with the
property and has been addressed to the satisfaction of the
applicable regulatory authority, without subjecting the
property to any required controls (e.g., property use
restrictions, AULs, IC’s, or EC’s). Before calling the past
release an HREC, the EP must determine whether the past
release is a REC at the time the Phase I ESA is conducted
(e.g., if there has been a change in the regulatory criteria).
If the EP considers this past release to be a REC at the time
the Phase I ESA is conducted, the condition shall be
included in the conclusions section of the report as a REC.”
16. New CREC Definition
• “a REC resulting from a past release of hazardous
substances or petroleum products that has been
addressed to the satisfaction of the applicable
regulatory authority (e.g., as evidenced by the issuance
of a NFA letter or equivalent, or meeting risk-based
criteria established by regulatory authority), with
hazardous substances or petroleum products allowed
to remain in place subject to the implementation of
required controls (e.g., property use restrictions, AULs,
institutional controls, or engineering controls)…a CREC
shall be listed in the Findings Section of the Phase I ESA
report, and as a REC in the Conclusions Section of
the…report.”
17. REC-HREC-CREC Relationship
Contamination
in, at or on the
target property.
Is it de minimis? Has it been
addressed?
Would
regulatory
officials view
cleanup as
inadequate
today?
Are there
restrictions?
YES
NO
NO
YES
REC
(“Bad REC”)
De minimis
(“Not a REC”)
NO
CREC
(“Good REC”)
HREC
(“Not a REC”)
YES
YES
NO
19. In your Phase I Report
• List in FINDINGS
– RECs
– CRECs
– HRECs
– De minimis conditions
• List in CONCLUSIONS
– RECs
– CRECs
20. For the panel…
• Best practice for communication and
education?
• The REC, HREC, and CREC system can be a
little confusing at first. What is the best way
to teach it to staff and clients?
– “Good REC vs. Bad REC”?
– Flow charts?
22. Vapor Migration
• No differentiation between state of matter:
– Solid, liquid, or gas
– Refer to CERCLA definition of “release” and “environment”
• Definition of “migrate”
• E2600-10 is a referenced document in 1527
– You can use it or any other vapor screening standard, just
document a replicable practice.
– Addressed in revised AUL definition
• Contaminated vapor migration now clarified to be
associated w/ a release.
• Driven by legal community. They wanted vapor included.
• If vapor migration or encroachment is eliminated as an issue, then
logically, vapor intrusion is a moot point.
23. Migrate/Migration Definition Added
• “refers to the movement of hazardous
substances or petroleum products in any
form, including, for example, solid and liquid
at the surface or subsurface, and vapor in the
subsurface.”
24. Vapor and 1527
• “The EPA will come out with vapor guidance
this year, and the ASTM 1527 standard will
clarify vapor as a consideration. What do you
think the impact will be on our market?”
• “Do you expect the EPA guidance for VI will be
consistent with 1527-13?”
25. • “Does my Phase I ESA need to address vapor
intrusion into buildings on my target property
if I’m dealing with a situation where vapors
are potentially migrating onto the property?”
– Emphasis added
• “vapor pathway”
26. Vapor and 1527
• “Have you seen vapor impacting any clients
deals?”
27. Vapor and 1527
• “In a recent article on REIT.com, David Farer,
chairman of the environmental department
with Greenbaum Rowe Smith & Davis LLP
noted that more investors are paying
attention to the issue of vapor intrusion. Do
you agree?”
29. Regulatory File Reviews
• New section added, 8.2.2
• If TP or adjoining is identified in gov’t records, “pertinent
regulatory files and/or records associated with the listing
should be reviewed” at the EP’s discretion.
• If EP deems it not warranted, or not reasonably
ascertainable, the EP must provide justification in the Phase
I report.
• EP may use files from alternative sources such as on-site
records, user provided records, records from local agencies,
interviews w/ agency officials, online resources, etc.
• Summary of information obtained from the file review shall
be included in the Phase I report and EP must include
opinion on the sufficiency of the information obtained.
30. Regulatory File Reviews
• Challenges inherent
– High variability of availability across states
– Research project canvassed all 50 states
• Variability of TAT from instant to months
• Variability in access includes internet, phone (verbal), email,
and regular mail.
• Variability of cost from free to prohibitive
• Variability in number of pages/documents from very few to
prohibitive
• Variability in distance traveled
– Result: High variability in current practices
42. Questions
• What are your suggestions for how my firm
can adequately account for the effort/cost of
visiting regulatory agency offices to review
files of adjoining properties in my Phase I
price? I have no idea at the proposal stage
whether or not there are any problem
properties adjoining my target property or
how extensive any files are that may be
available.
43. Questions
• How will the revision impact pricing?
• Which areas will impact pricing?
• Which will not?
• How will firms communicate changes to their
clients?
44. Kathryn Peacock, Partner Engineering & Science
Copyright 2013 by RMA | March 2013 The RMA Journal 73
46. Q&A
• How did the task group engage w/ the SBA to
make sure the standard was embraced by
them?
47. • Ballot closed October 17, 2012
• Negatives ruled non-persuasive in follow-on ballot that closed January 9,
2013
• Final standard submitted to EPA for formal approval (to issue a ruling that
the standard is AAI-compliant)
• EPA plans to publish both the proposed rule (with a 30 day public comment
period) and the final rule simultaneously in early summer
• Assuming there are no objections to the proposed rule, the already
published final rule becomes effective 30 days after the public comment
period ends (likely becoming effective around Labor Day)
• ASTM would then immediately publish the standard (as E1527-13) and the
standard would be effective immediately
Status of ASTM E 1527 Revision Process
Editor's Notes
Received over 100 questions in the two webinars we hosted in March and April on the topic of HREC.
How did we choose the focus of today’s panel?
Is it a REC today? Then it can’t be a HREC. No AUL’s. Unrestricted use.
Is it a REC today? Then it can’t be a HREC. No AUL’s. Unrestricted use.
Good RECs and bad RECs.
QUESTION FOR PANELApril 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft document, the OSWER Final Guidance For Assessing And Mitigating The Vapor Intrusion Pathway From Subsurface Sources To Indoor Air — External Review Draft (PDF) for public comment. EPA’s final vapor intrusion guidance is directed at vapor intrusion into structures. The vapor screening identified in the upcoming ASTM E1527-13 standard is directed at vapor migration onto a target property, and says nothing about whether the vapor potentially migrating on the target property might result in a vapor intrusion problem. The two standards are consistent.
Vapor migration is part of a Phase I ESA. Vapor intrusion assessment is not. If vapors are not potentially capable of encroaching upon a target property (per the Tier 1 VEC screen), vapor intrusion becomes irrelevant. If the vapors are potentially encroaching upon the target property, then of course there is the possibility of vapor intrusion into buildings on the property, but this can only be established by a separate follow-on investigation, typically applying the state’s VI guidance document, assuming one is available, or EPA’s VI guidance.
QUESTION FOR PANEL
QUESTION FOR PANEL
I’m going to blow through these survey slides very fast. “60% OF RESPONDANTS STATED AGENCY FILE REVIEWS ARE CONDUCTED VERY OFTEN OR ALWAYS WHEN PERFORMING A PHASE I ESA”.
CHALLENGES EXIST, BUT ARE VARIABLE, AND INCLUDE TRAVEL, SCHEDULING, VOLUME OF FILES, ACCESS TO ONLINE INFORMATION.
62% SAY THEY CONDUCT THE FILE REVIEW AT THE SAME TIME AS THE ESA, 31% SAY IT TYPICALLY HAPPENS LATER.
20% TRAVEL OVER 50 MILES.
ONLINE AVAILABILITY OF FILES: VISIT TO OFFICE, ONLINE, OR COMBINATION OF BOTH.
PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION: HOW DO YOU CHARGE?