•  Environmental Due Diligence – All Appropriate Inquiry
  •  Voluntary Remediation and Brownfield Redevelopment
  •  Storage Tanks
  •  Compliance Audits
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Business transactions today must include consideration of environmental issues. Complex laws can impose significant environmental liabilities on purchasers, sellers, and lenders involved in a deal, whether or not they caused the problem, and whether or not they still own the property. 

Important rules published by EPA and many states provide defenses to environmental liabilities provided that the defendant conducted all appropriate inquiries regarding the property at the time of acquisition, and then took reasonable steps to mitigate the effects of hazardous substances found on the property.

SCS offers:

• Transaction Screens

• Phase I Site Assessments 

• Phase II Site Assessments

• Phase III Remediation Design, Construction, and Operations and Maintenance

• Professional opinions regarding what constitute "reasonable steps" in response to releases of hazardous substances

• Audits of Tenant Operations

• Real Estate Environmental Support Services

	All Appropriate Inquiry. Innocent Purchaser Defense.
	Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser.  Contiguous Property Owner.  Successor Liability.

EPA published its final rule under 40 CFR 312 for All Appropriate Inquiry on November 1, 2005.  The rule is fully effective on November 1, 2006.  In the meantime, the Superfund defenses for Innocent Purchaser, Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser, or Contiguous Property Owner will be available to those who performed All Appropriate Inquiry under either 40 CFR 312 or any of several versions of the ASTM standard (ASTM E 1527 -97, -00, or -05).

For the latest on EPA's new standards for All Appropriate Inquiry, consult our AAI page.

All parties to a typical transaction have an interest in Environmental Due Diligence: 

• If you are a purchaser or a lender, we help you avoid "bad luck" and unplanned expenses to clean up environmental problems by providing a full range of environmental investigation and assessment services before a transaction is completed.  Alternatively, we help identify "appropriate care" and "reasonable steps" that should be taken in response to a release in order to gain liability protections as a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser or a Contiguous Property Owner.

• If you are a seller, we help you identify and manage current environmental problems to facilitate the transaction, and establish a baseline to help distinguish between current problems and those caused by future owners.

SCS Engineers has conducted thousands of environmental assessments in connection with business transactions throughout North America and around the world.  Our experience ranges from Transaction Screens and Phase I Environmental Site Assessments for small undeveloped sites, to complex, multi-facility assessments of large manufacturing companies.  We have considerable experience supporting environmental due diligence for corporate merger and acquisitions.

Our staff includes engineers, geologists, hydrogeologists, risk assessment specialists, real estate experts, and other environmental professionals.  Environmental regulation is complex. Approaches to hazardous substance contamination depend upon subtle combinations of local, state, and federal requirements. Through its strategic regional offices nationwide, SCS Engineers provides you with a national reputation and local experience.

  Phase I Assessments

We provide 40 CFR 312, ASTM-E1527 and similar Phase I Environmental Site Assessments, and related transaction screens (useful for those who do not wish to conduct All Appropriate Inquiry). Typical elements include:

• Site history, based on personal interviews, review of aerial photographs, and historical research.
• Site reconnaissance, to identify visible signs of hazardous substances management or contamination.
• Regulatory compliance and data base review.
• Optional services, such as asbestos, lead paint, and radon assessments.

  Phase II Investigations

If a Phase I assessment concludes that an environmental problem may exist, we often are retained to implement a Phase II investigation to confirm the presence of a problem and to help determine its scope. A Phase II investigation typically includes sampling of soil, surface water, and groundwater, chemical analysis of the samples, and evaluation of the data.

SCS staff are knowledgeable of the practical steps than can and should be taken to address ongoing releases and to protect human health and the environment.  We help clients who seek protection as a Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser or a Contiguous Property Owner in identifying what constitutes Appropriate Care and Reasonable Steps or Continuing Obligations in response to suspected releases.

  Phase III Remediation

When warranted, we will design and help implement a practical site remediation program to meet regulatory and other criteria. Our construction group, SCS Field Services, provides specialized environmental remediation services. SCS provides a single point of responsibility for all of your environmental needs.