Land Assessment Services does not make a habit of throwing out half-baked conclusions and cover-your-self RECs in its environmental site assessments. It’s easy to meet the letter of the law and produce a Phase I ESA barely meeting the ASTM 1527-05 standard using material mostly purchased from an environmental data company. Where the professionals at LAS set themselves apart is in understanding what is going on with the transaction. A poorly written hollow Phase I ESA can hold up or blow a multi-million dollar transaction out of the water. It’s very important to know the nature of the deal.

Here’s another danger we’ve seen. A property buyer working through a bank that orders the Phase I ESA. You may be constrained to follow their rules, but remember, you need to care more about due diligence than they do. That’s what the All Appropriate Inquiry (AAI) rule is there for. Get a copy of the report. Make sure you’re satisfied!