EPA PUBLISHES FINAL RULE ON ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRIES
The Environmental Protection Agency published a final rule setting federal standards for the conduct of all appropriate inquiries. The rule was published in the Federal Register on November 1, 2005. The final rule and preamble is available below.
The final rule establishes specific regulatory requirements for conducting all appropriate inquiries into the previous ownership, uses, and environmental conditions of a property for the purposes of qualifying for certain landowner liability protections under CERCLA. The final rule will be effective on November 1, 2006, one year following the date of publication. Until November 1, 2006, parties may use either the requirements set forth in the all appropriate inquiries final rule (see below), or the requirements of the interim standard for all appropriate inquiries established in the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (the Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA) to satisfy the statutory requirements for all appropriate inquiries. The interim standard is the ASTM E1527-00 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. Parties also may use the newly revised ASTM standard, ASTM E1527-05 standard.
After November 1, 2006, parties must comply with the requirements of All Appropriate Inquiries Final Rule, or follow the standards set forth in the ASTM E1527-05 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process, to satisfy the statutory requirements for conducting all appropriate inquiries. All appropriate inquiries must be conducted in compliance with either of these standards to obtain protection from potential liability under CERCLA as an innocent landowner, a contiguous property owner, or a bona fide prospective purchaser.
Federal Register Notice
[ HTML (323K) | PDF (500K) 45 Pages]
November 1, 2005
Fact Sheet on All Appropriate Inquiries Final Rule
[ HTML (19K) | PDF (113K) 2 Pages ]
Publication Number: EPA 560-F-05-240
November 2005
Fact Sheet on Definition of Environmental Professional included in the Final Rule
[ HTML (19K) | PDF (106K) 2 Pages ]
Publication Number: EPA 560-F-05-2401
November 2005
Response to Public Comments
The preamble to the final rule setting federal standards for the conduct of all appropriate inquiries includes a summary of the public comments received in response to the proposed rule, which was published on August 26, 2004 (see below for information on the proposed rule). The preamble to the final rule also includes a summary of EPA's responses to many of the issues raised in public comments. Specific responses to individual comments are provided in the document "Response to Comment Document," October 2005.
Response to Comment Document
Part 1 [ PDF (1.9MB) 380 Pages ]
Part 2 [ PDF (1.4MB) 321 Pages ]
Part 3 [ PDF (584K) 120 Pages ]
October 2005
Comparison of Final Rule to Interim Standard (ASTM E1527-00)
The new final regulation is not significantly different from the interim standard established by Congress in the Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA. The interim standard was the ASTM E1527-00 Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process. The final rule differs in such areas as the definition of environmental professional, certain interviewing requirements, and the documentation of data gaps that may affect an environmental professional's ability to render an opinion regarding the environmental conditions of a property. A comparison of the requirements established in the final rule and the requirements of the interim standard are provided in a document titled "Comparison of the Final All Appropriate Inquiries Standard and the ASTM E1527-00 Environmental Site Assessment Standard."
Comparison of the Final All Appropriate Inquiries Standard and the ASTM E1527-00 Environmental Site Assessment Standard
[ HTML (70K) | PDF (227K) 14 Pages ]
Publication Number: EPA 560-F-05-242
November 2005
Background
The Small Business Liability Relief and Revitalization Act (the Brownfields Amendments) clarifies CERCLA liability provisions for certain landowners and potential property owners. The Brownfields Amendments provide liability protections for certain property owners, if the property owners comply with specific provisions outlined in the statute, including conducting all appropriate inquiries into present and past uses of the property and the potential presence of environmental contamination on the property. The Brownfields Amendments amend Section 101(35)(B) of CERCLA and require EPA to promulgate regulations that establish federal standards and practices for conducting all appropriate inquiries. The all appropriate inquiries standards and practices are relevant to:
- the innocent landowner defense to CERCLA liability (§101 (35));
- the contiguous property exemption to CERCLA liability (§107 (q));
- the bona fide prospective purchaser exemption to CERCLA liability (§107 (r)(1) and (§101 (40)); and
- the brownfields site characterization and assessment grant programs (§104 (k)(2)).
All Appropriate Inquiries Statutory Language from the Small Business Liability Relief and Revitalization Act
[ HTML (16K) | PDF (54K) 2 Pages ]
January 2002
All Appropriate Inquiries Criteria Analysis/Comparison to State, Federal, and Commercial Assessment Approaches
[ HTML (451K) | PDF (935k) 168 Pages ]
Publication Number: EPA-500-F-03-229
June 10, 2003
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