Confronting environmental issues is an integral part of owning or operating commercial property today.  Commonly, commercial property owners and small business owners are unexpectedly thrust into a situation where they may be facing the possibility of civil or criminal liability due to the discovery and/or occurrence of a reportable release of Oil or Hazardous Material (OHM).  Dealing with a new reportable release condition or the long term management of historical contamination can be one of the most costly problems a commercial property owner or small business owner may face.  A release to the environment is a liability, which may significantly reduce the value of your property.  These conditions can change a property’s value by thousands or even millions of dollars.  Lingenfelter Environmental Consulting, LLC (LINEC) provides property owners, operators and prospective buyers with cost effective solutions tailored to meet their specific needs.  LINEC is always willing to provide a client with sufficient information to understand the available options to manage an environmental condition.  You will receive an assessment detailing potential risk factors and solutions so you can move forward in selling or buying while preserving your property’s value.  LINEC provides its clients with plain language explanations and guidance through the complicated regulatory compliance process.

Environmental Site Assessments performed at commercial/industrial properties prior to ownership transfer, refinancing, or the initiation of remodeling/reconstruction activities often discover areas of an historical release of petroleum, solvents and/or metals to the environment.  Large development and brownfields redevelopment projects performed at former commercial/industrial properties often discover areas of the historical release of OHM or encounter a forgotten/abandoned underground storage tank (UST) or buried drum(s) not identified by the Environmental Site Assessment performed prior to the initiation of work.  If you are the current owner or prospective buyer of a contaminated commercial/industrial property or the owner or developer of a former commercial/industrial property and encounter a new condition after construction and/or redevelopment activities have been initiated, LINEC can assist you with managing the known conditions, newly discovered release conditions or removing a UST or drum(s).

If you are the current owner or responsible for the management of a large commercial building, it is common to require the services of a Massachusetts Licensed Site Professional (LSP) or environmental consultant in association with the scheduled replacement of a UST used to store heating oil or a release of petroleum (#2, #4 and/or #6 fuel oil) from a UST system.  Banks and other lending institutions often require that heating oil storage tanks, whether a UST or an aboveground storage tank (AST), be removed or tested for leaks prior to real estate transfer or refinancing as part of the disclosure policy.  Evidence of a heating oil release or other significant contamination problem may prevent a property sale or refinancing.

If you are the owner or operator of a gasoline service station property at which a reportable release of gasoline, diesel fuel or waste oil has occurred from an existing or former UST, or you are planning to upgrade/replace an existing UST system, LINEC can assist you with managing the release or documenting environmental conditions during the performance of site work.  If a Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) disposal site already exists at your property, it may be necessary to perform remodeling, redevelopment, or other construction activities in accordance with a Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plan (depending on the scope of work and site specific environmental conditions).  LINEC‘s LSP can prepare a RAM Plan to fit your needs.  LINEC‘s LSP also has extensive experience managing petroleum releases in accordance with the Massachusetts 21J Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Cleanup Program.  In addition to preparing MCP submittals, LINEC can assist you with filing an initial 21J claim application, 21J reimbursement submittals, and the tracking of work performed under/in accordance with the 21J program.

Because commercial/industrial properties are often located together in districts and/or areas of similar zoning or property use, an Environmental Site Assessment performed prior to the sale or refinancing of one specific property, commonly detects evidence of contamination at an adjacent upgradient property.  If evidence of contamination is detected at your property and the source of release is demonstrated to be at a neighbor’s property, the MCP includes a provision which protects an innocent downgradient property owner or operator from the responsibility to cleanup that portion of a disposal site located on their property.  After completion of the necessary documentation to establish that the source of a release of OHM originated on an upgradient property (which may be as simple as a review of existing public records but may also require the performance of a subsurface investigation of an appropriate scope to address the specific observed environmental conditions), LINEC‘s LSP can prepare a Downgradient Property Status (DPS) submittal on your behalf.  Although DPS status may be granted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), based upon site specific circumstances, a downgradient property owner or operator may still be obligated to implement a management plan to prevent, eliminate, or minimize danger to health, safety, public welfare and/or the environment for that portion of the disposal site located on their own property.

If you are the owner or operator of a commercial/industrial property which has its own delivery trucks or trucks make deliveries to your facility, it is not uncommon for a surface release to occur from a saddle tank(s) due to a traffic accident or puncture from a forklift blade.  LINEC is not an emergency response contractor, but depending on the circumstances of the release, it may be prudent to hire LINEC to protect your interests.  It may also be appropriate to have LINEC‘s LSP work with your selected contractor(s) and manage the petroleum release in accordance with MCP regulations (i.e. representing your best interests and not those of the emergency response contractor or truck owner).

Many older commercial properties/buildings may have an abandoned and/or out of service subsurface sanitary disposal system (which includes a leaching field or emanation chamber) or a dry well(s) historically used in association with the discharge from a former manufacturing process, utility sink, or floor drain.  The discharge of OHM though a current or historical on-site subsurface disposal system or dry well may have contaminated soil or groundwater.  Sometimes this contamination can be significant and could pose a risk to indoor air at the property, or migrate to an adjacent property.  Former operations such as a machine shop (creation of metal parts from stock material) or the manufacturing of electrical circuit boards may be responsible for the release of degreasing compounds such as trichloroethylene (TCE), numerous heavy metals, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) to a subsurface drainage structure.  Many older/former dry cleaning operations may be responsible for numerous small, but cumulatively significant, releases of tetrachloroethylene/perchloroethylene (PERC) to a subsurface drainage structure.  If you suspect that there may have been a subsurface release of OHM at your property or a property which you are considering purchasing, please feel free to contact LINEC with any questions you may have.  LINEC can also assist you with the proper closure of out of service drainage structures in conformance with the MCP and the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Regulations.

If your commercial/industrial operation utilizes compounds such as liquid nitrogen (cryogenic applications), ammonia (commonly used in association with large refrigeration units in the food preparation and storage industry) or liquid propane (heating or cooking fuel used at locations where natural gas service may not be available), an uncontrolled reportable release of one of these materials may occur to the environment as a liquid, vapor or gas (due to an accident or equipment failure).  If such a release does occur, management under the MCP will be necessary.  LINEC‘s LSP can prepare an appropriate Response Action Outcome (RAO) Statement or Immediate Response Action Plan (IRA) Plan to assist you.  The most common action and/or result of such a release is corrective action/repairs are performed to facilities equipment, and the release is closed with a Class B RAO Statement.  Though seldom necessary, if remediation of contaminated media is performed, the release is closed with a Class A RAO Statement.

If you are the owner or operator of a commercial/industrial property which has an ongoing environmental problem regulated by the MCP, there are minimum public involvement activities which you must perform.  If the nature of the contaminate conditions at your property are responsible for significant public concern, the MCP also has provisions by which 10 or more persons may petition for Public Involvement Plan (PIP) Site Designation.  Generally, it is in the best interest of a property owner to ovoid designation as a PIP Site, if possible.  If you receive inquiries concerning conditions at your contaminated property and legal council has not advised you otherwise (due to specific liability concerns), sometimes listening to public concerns, understanding what the people are concerned about, and addressing those concerns to the extent possible, may save you from unnecessary actions/costs both before and after PIP Site Designation.  LINEC‘s LSP has extensive experience in working with citizens groups and can assist you with responding to public concerns.

There are many environmental consulting companies competing for your business in today’s highly competitive market place.  To be aware of your options is a prudent business practice.  Sometimes a small environmental consulting company located close to a disposal site and which is familiar with the local area, can provide more responsive and cost effective services than a larger or large nationally recognized firm.  LINEC provides prospective new clients with an initial telephone consultation, initial visit to observe current site conditions (i.e. meet with management personnel to discuss the possibility of working together and the details of a specific project), and will prepare the initial proposed scope of work (including estimated costs) to assist you with your environmental consulting needs at no cost to you.

Please feel free to contact LINEC with any questions you may have regarding your individual environmental consulting needs or for more information on how LINEC may be able to assist you.  Thank you for considering LINEC to provide environmental consulting services.