Environmental Site Assessment - Transaction Screen Process

The Transaction Screen Process, as well as the Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, provides a standard commercial and customary method in the United States of America for conducting an environmental site assessment of a parcel of commercial real estate with respect to the range of contaminants within the scope of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and petroleum products.  As such, this method is intended to permit a user to satisfy one of the requirements to qualify for the innocent landowner defense to CERCLA liability:  that is, the investigations that constitute "all appropriate inquiry into the previous ownership and uses of the property consistent with good commercial or customary practice."  An evaluation of business environmental risk associated with a parcel of commercial real estate may necessitate investigation beyond that identified in this practice.

The Transaction Screen Process is an abbreviated preliminary environmental review of a site, which includes a site visit but does not include the detailed analysis and background investigation included in a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment.