Entry by JoeDerhake

Entry

I am off to Arizona for the ASTM E50 Meeting, which kicks off tomorrow.   ASTM E50 has a lot planned as always and I thought a blog discussing what is going on would be helpful to the environmental professional community.

ASTM E1527-05

Of greatest interest is the update to Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Standard: ASTM E1527.   I am not on the committee, but my partner Doreen Spinoso is.   I don’t think the committee wants a whole lot of discussion of considered changes until the standard gets finalized so I will be brief. 

Julie Kilgore, the Committee Chair, presented at the EBA this January on the introduction of the Controlled Recognized Environmental Condition (CREC) and term, that if passed by the committee, I think will be very useful.   I understand that the term was added to specifically address risk-based closures, and will be available as a distinction to a Recognized Environmental Condition (REC) and the Historical Recognized Environmental Condition (HREC).   The CREC could be used as a classification of a closed LUST site that has completed a certain amount of soil and groundwater remediation, but where residual contamination is still present and the site has an activity and use limitation (AUL).   Because the case is closed, an Environmental Professional (EP) may classify the case as an HREC under the current ASTM Standard, but clearly this case is more of a concern than an HREC where no contamination or AUL remains, as it may impose ongoing/future obligations to the owner.   The CREC will be a useful classification in this instance and other similar cases. 

ASTM E2018—Property Condition Assessments

I understand that the committee ASTM E50 will begin discussing updating ASTM E2018 – 08 Standard Guide for Property Condition Assessments: Baseline Property Condition Assessment Process.   My firm has a large Property Condition Assessment practice and I look forward to participating in the update of this standard.  

Liability associated with Property Condition Assessments is my chief concern.   The fact is that identifying all of a building’s shortcomings in a standard walk-though survey is very difficult.  The current wording of E2018 is very protective of professionals, but I think that the subject deserves more discussion. 

 

Other committees that are meeting are:

 

• E50.03 Pollution Prevention/Beneficial Use
• E50.04 TG on Sustainable Cleanup
• E50.05 Task Group on Climate Change
• E50.02 Task Group on Methane Gas Screening
• E50.04 TG on LNAPL Conceptual Model
• E50.04 TG on Greener Cleanup
• E50.02 Subcommittee on Real Estate Management
• E50.05 Subcommittee on Environmental Risk Management

 

Please feel free to provide any comments that carry forward to Arizona.   Or send me an email at joe@partneresi.com.

Keywords

Controlled Recognized Environmental Condition, Controlled REC, CREC, Recognized Environmental Condition, Historical REC, HREC, ASTM E50, E50 Committee