Entry by JoeDerhake The winter Environmental Bankers Association (EBA) meeting just concluded in Orlando, Florida.   The EBA is celebrating its 20th year as an organization.  Thank you to Jeff and Tacy Telego for running this business for 20 years! A few highlights from the meeting: Bank Regulators and Environmental:  The new OCC Commercial Real Estate…

Entry by JoeDerhake Entry The OCC’s new Commercial Real Estate Lending Booklet, which contains guidelines for commercial real estate loan concentrations and sound risk management practices for banks, is now well and truly in effect. The document was released on August 20, 2013 to replace a booklet published in 1995. This was the first time…

Entry by JoeDerhake Entry As the Phase I Environmental Assessment continues to bounce back after the recession, we are all looking for staff.  Three years ago no one was hiring Environmental Professionals.   Now we’re seeing a hole in our pipeline of talent.   At the same time, we have a large number of veterans returning…

For the first time since 2005, the ASTM E1527 standard has been revised: the 30-day public comment period closed on September 16, 2013; ASTM E1527-13 was approved in November; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that the standard complies with the agency’s All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) rule.  So what now? Now that ASTM…

The long anticipated update to ASTM’s Phase I Environmental Site Assessment standard has finally been published.  ASTM E1527-13 will take effect immediately and will replace the E1527-05 standard as the industry best practice for Phase I ESAs. The changes do not significantly alter the Phase I ESA report or process, but there are a few…

Entry by JoeDerhake Entry With the House preparing for a vote tonight, I think I speak on behalf of the entire due diligence industry when I say I hope the Government reopens soon! As we all know, environmental due diligence requires review of data, historical records and other files obtained from a range of government…