This regulation affects anyone purchasing, or acquiring title to, commercial property or any property that will be used for commercial or public purposes and who seeks protection from CERCLA liability for releases or threatened releases from hazardous substances.

Protection from liability can only be obtained by conducting all appropriate inquiries before the property is acquired.

Prospective landowners who do not conduct all appropriate inquires prior to the date of obtaining ownership of the property may lose their ability to claim protection from CERCLA liability as an innocent landowner, prospective purchaser, or contiguous property owner.

Under CERCLA, persons may be held liable for cleaning up hazardous substances at properties that they either currently owned or operated at the time of disposal.

A potentially responsible party maybe be liable for environmental contamination base solely on property ownership and without regard to fault or negligence.

This federal law, effective November 1, 2006, replaces the current interim standards for all appropriate inquires established by Congress in the Brownfields Amendments and clarified by EPA

in the May 9,2003 final rule.

Interested parties may ask the question, "How does the new Federal law effect the way a

Phase I must be conducted?"

The Phase I study must be conducted within 12 months prior to the date of acquisition of the subjects property and must include:

- Performed by an Environmental Professional

Within 6 months of the acquisition date of the subject property the following inquiries must be made:

( Considered a Phase I Update )

- Interviews with past and present owners, operators and occupants.

- Searches for recorded environmental cleanup liens.

- Review of federal, tribal, state, and localgovernment records.

- Visual inspections of the facility and of the adjoining properties.

- A declaration by the environmental professional

All appropriate inquiries, or due diligence includes:

- Current and past property uses and occupancies, identifying residential, commercial, or industrial

back to the time the subject property was undeveloped, or recorded records are not available.

- Current and past uses of hazardous substances, contaminants, petroleum products, and controlled substances.

- Waste management and disposal activities

- Current and past corrective actions and response activities undertaken to address past and on-going releases of hazardous substances, containments, or petroleum products.

- Investigation of property adjoining or located nearby the subject property that have environmental conditions that could have resulted in conditions indicative of releases or threatened releases that could have affected the subject property.

- Historical data and records may include, but not be limited to, aerial photographs, FEMA

( Fire Insurance ) maps, building department records, and chain of title documents and land use records. If data is commonly known to exist the research must go back until the property was undeveloped.

- The Information must be gathered, reviewed, evaluated, summarized and recommendations made

by the environmental professional in the form of a Phase I study.

EPA'S EXPECTED EFFECT ON

PROPOSED LAND OWNERS:

- A reduced burden for conduction of interviews in those cases where the subject property is abandoned, and no known owner, occupant, or employee is unavailable.

- An increased burden where past owners, occupants or employees are available.

- An increased burden associated with documenting recorded environmental cleanup liens.

- An increased burden for documenting the reasons for the price and fair market value or a property in those cases where the purchase price is significantly below the fair market value.

- An increased burden for recording information about the degree of obviousness of contamination at

a property.

It is strongly recommended the professionals retained to conduct a Phase I study should include the adherence to 40 CFR, Part 312 in their proposal.