Description:
Purpose—The purpose of this practice is to define good
commercial and customary practice in the United States of America
for conducting a Phase I environmental site
assessment2 of a property 120 acres or
greater of forestland or rural property or with a
developed use of only managed forestland and/or
agriculture with respect to the range of contaminants within the
scope of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation,
and Liability Act (CERCLA) and petroleum products. The
property need not be contiguous; however, the non-contiguous areas
should have substantially the same general land use and be part of
the same transaction. The property may contain isolated areas of
non-forestland and non-rural property. As such,
this practice is intended to permit a user to satisfy one
of the requirements to qualify for the innocent landowner,
contiguous property owner, or bona fide prospective
purchaser limitations on CERCLA liability (hereinafter, the
"landowner liability protections," or "LLPs"):
that is, the practice that constitutes "all appropriate inquiry
into the previous ownership and uses of the property
consistent with good commercial or customary practice" as defined
at 42 U.S.C. §9601(35)(B). (See Appendix X1 for an outline of
CERCLA's liability and defense provisions.) Controlled substances
are not included within the scope of this standard. Persons
conducting an environmental site assessment as part of an EPA
Brownfields Assessment and Characterization Grant awarded under
CERCLA 42 U.S.C. §9604(k)(2)(B) must include controlled substances
as defined in the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. §802) within
the scope of the assessment investigations to the extent directed
in the terms and conditions of the specific grant or cooperative
agreement.