Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

From: The Northern Light

Info meeting held about proposed wind farm project
By Paul Chapman
Special to The Northern Light

If there is one thing that is a sure crop in Pokeshaw, it is wind. In this era of green energy, that fact is not lost on the wind farm industry. E.ON Climate & Renewables, a wind farm developer based in Ontario, has made an application to NB Power to put in 66 wind turbines in the Pokeshaw and Grande-Anse area.

Paul Chapman/Special to The Northern LightSteven Xuereb, project manager for EON Climate & Renewables, is shown at the Pokeshaw Recreation Centre last week, answering landowner questions about a proposed wind farm development in the Pokeshaw/Grande Anse area. The project is presently undergoing an Environmental Impact Assessment. The turbines would be located between one and three kilometres from the shoreline and would track inland from but parallel to Highway 11.

The amount of energy produced would light tens of thousands of households.

Approximately 150 people turned out on April 14 at the Pokeshaw Recreation Centre for an open house hosted by E.ON. Project manager Steven Xuereb and several company representatives were on hand with information displays and brochures prepared to respond to questions.

“The purpose of the information session is to get feedback from the community on any questions, concerns, or issues the public may have, and they would like to see addressed during the development phase.” explained Mr., Xuereb. “It is also a part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in New Brunswick to carry out public information sessions, for exactly that purpose.”

As for the public reaction, Mr. Xuereb believes the project has generally been well received by most of the community, but said some concerns have been raised.

“For example, concerns have been expressed on the environmental impact on the birds, bats and water. We will be addressing those and we have begun to address those during the EIA.”

One of those concerned resident is Paul Barriault who doesn’t feel people are getting complete information.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he stressed. “I don’t think people are being misinformed, they are not being properly informed, and I think they should have more information.”

He has a long list of concerns involving health, the impact on the water table and the environment.

“People aren’t fully aware of the impacts these industrial wind farms have on a local community, when they are so close to their homes,” said Mr. Barriault. “I am not against wind energy. Look, I am for my toilet, but in the bathroom – not in the middle of my kitchen floor. I don’t think they should be putting these turbines in inappropriate places. They want to put them about 500 metres from people’s homes. That’s too close.”

Mr. Xuereb acknowledged the concern.

“Setbacks are a concern to people that the turbines will be sighted too close to homes and we address that by using best practices in the industry as well as working together with the planning commissions, both on the Pokeshaw and Grand Anse side, which we have to respect.”

Presently there are no guidelines or regulations in New Brunswick regarding setbacks for wind farms from residential areas.

Local landowner Tess Alcott now resides in Bathurst but was born and raised in Pokeshaw, where her parents and many of her friends and family still live.

She has some concerns about the impact on people’s health who form areas that live that close to wind farms and she doesn’t feels she is getting enough information to make a decision about the use of her land.

“I would love to see the community do well. I’d love to see some people make some money, but if it’s going to be a risk to my family and friends and the people I grew up with, I don’t want the money.”

The project is in the environmental assessment phase, and the developer must complete the EIA, submit it to government for review and then present to the public for comment. Once all the permits and approvals are granted, EON will start construction.

“We are aiming to start the construction phase no earlier than March 2009,” concluded Mr. Xuereb.

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$74 Million in Grants to Give New Life to Old Properties

Release date: 04/07/2008

Contact Information: Roxanne Smith, 202-564-4355 / smith.roxanne@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. – April 7, 2008) Communities in 43 states will share more than $74 million in brownfields grants to help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, turning them from problem properties to productive community use. The grants, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, also go to two tribes and two U.S. Territories.

“By revitalizing and restoring neighborhoods nationwide, EPA’s Brownfields Program is proving that being a little green is doing a lot of good,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “These grants will help convert even more environmental eyesores back into sources of community pride.”

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In January 2002, President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, which authorizes up to $250 million in funds annually for brownfields grants. The 2002 law expanded the definition of what’s considered a brownfields, so communities may now focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs.

In all, 209 applicants were selected to receive 314 assessment, revolving loan fund, and cleanup grants:

194 assessment grants totaling $38.7 million to be used to conduct site assessment and planning for eventual cleanup at one or more brownfields sites or as part of a community-wide effort.
108 cleanup grants totaling $19.6 million to provide funding for grant recipients to carry out cleanup activities at brownfields sites they own.
12 revolving loan fund grants totaling $15.7 million to provide funding for communities to capitalize a revolving loan fund and to provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfields sites. Revolving loan funds are generally used to provide low interest loans for brownfields cleanups.

The brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the program, EPA has awarded 1,255 assessment grants totaling more than $298 million, 230 revolving loan fund grants totaling about $217 million, and 426 cleanup grants totaling $78.7 million.

In addition to industrial and commercial redevelopment, brownfields approaches have included the conversion of industrial waterfronts to river-front parks, landfills to golf courses, rail corridors to recreational trails, and gas stations to housing. As of January 31, 2008, EPA’s brownfields assistance has leveraged more than $10.4 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding and 47,201 jobs in cleanup, construction, and redevelopment. Assessments have been performed on 11,738 properties and 256 properties have been cleaned up.

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WHAT IS “ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY?”

All appropriate inquiry refers to the requirements for assessing the environmental conditions of a property prior to its acquisition.

EPA PUBLISHED 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 went into effect on November 1, 2006, one year following the date of publication. As of November 1, 2006, parties must comply with the requirements of the 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-05-240November 2005

En EspañolPDF (302K) 2 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA 560-F-07-209June 2007
Fact Sheet on Lender Liability and Applicability of AAI[ HTML (15.4K) PDF (29.8K) 2 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA 560-F-07-234April 2007

Fact Sheet on Definition of Environmental Professional included in the Final Rule[ HTML (19K) PDF (106K) 2 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA 560-F-05-2401November 2005

En EspañolPDF (296K) 2 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA 560-F-07-210June 2007
Fact Sheet on Guidelines for Hiring an Environmental Professional[ PDF (38K) 2 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA-560-F-06-243October 2006
Fact Sheet on AAI Reporting Requirements[ PDF (46K) 4 Pages ]Publication Number: EPA 560- F-06-244October 2006

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 DocumentPart 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-05-242November 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-03-229June 10, 2003

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A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment is a report prepared for a real estate holding which identifies potential or existing environmental contamination liabilities. The analysis, often called a Phase I ESA, typically addresses both the underlying land as well as physical improvements to the property; however, techniques applied in a Phase I ESA never include actual collection of physical samples or chemical analyses of any kind. Scrutiny of the land includes examination of potential soil contamination, groundwater quality, surface water quality and sometimes issues related to hazardous substance uptake by biota. The examination of a site may include: definition of any chemical residues within structures; identification of possible asbestos containing building materials; inventory of hazardous substances stored or used on site; assessment of mold and mildew; and evaluation of other indoor air quality parameters[1].

Actual sampling of soil, air, groundwater and/or building materials is typically not conducted during a Phase I ESA. The Phase I ESA is generally considered the first step in the process of environmental Due Diligence. This type of study is alternatively called a Level I Environmental Site Assessment. Standards for performing a Phase I site assessment have been promulgated by the US EPA[2] and are based in part on ASTM in Standard E1527-05.[3] If a site is considered contaminated, a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment may be conducted, ASTM test E1903, a more detailed investigation involving chemical analysis for hazardous substances and/or petroleum hydrocarbons.

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