Commonly referred to in Massachusetts as a 21E Site Investigation, Lingenfelter Environmental Consulting, LLC (LINEC) performs Environmental Site Assessments of varying levels of detail for clients seeking to buy or sell commercial/industrial property. The term “21E” is commonly used in reference to a report, but is actually Massachusetts General Law (M.G.L.) Chapter 21E, the Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act. M.G.L. c. 21E is the legislation authorizing the environmental regulations articulated under the Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP) at 310 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Regulation (CMR) 40.0000. M.G.L. c. 21E and the MCP essentially state that a property owner (or any potentially responsible party) is liable for cleaning up a property that has experienced a release of Oil or Hazardous Material (OHM). Therefore, if you own the property, you own the problem. Prior to purchasing a multi-family residential, commercial, or industrial property, please contact LINEC for a recommendation(s) on how LINEC may be able to help protect you from financial liability associated with historically contaminated property.
It is rare for any transfer of commercial property to occur today without conducting a site assessment or performing some level of Environmental Due Diligence to determine if past property use resulted in a release of OHM to the environment. LINEC combines extensive professional experience, local knowledge and the practical application of federal, state and local regulations along with ASTM standards to efficiently provide an appropriate Environmental Site Assessment with accurate results, to allow our clients to make educated business decisions. In cases where contamination is discovered at levels warranting remediation, LINEC can develop a cost effective remedial solution(s).
An Environmental Site Assessment can help a prospective property owner, a property owner, or a property operator assess the pre-purchase risk for existing and future property use. LINEC can provide assistance with estimating the impacts to property development costs and guide a buyer and/or seller (in concert with client legal counsel; LINEC‘s LSP has a close working rapport with several environmental attorneys and upon request, will make a recommendation to assist a client with retaining appropriate legal counsel services; LINEC‘s LSP has experience in providing litigation support) through a negotiated risk solution and review and develop liability indemnity language to avoid potential environmental liabilities. The approach taken by LINEC to assess a property puts the requirements of the client first. Open communication throughout the assessment process ensures that you, the client, understands all available options before moving forward with the purchase of a potentially contaminated property, initiating release reporting for contamination identified on a property you may already own, initiating cleanup activities, or implementing a management plan to prevent, eliminate, or minimize danger to health, safety, public welfare and/or the environment.
Under M.G.L. c. 21E there is strict, joint, and several liability for current and past owners/operators of contaminated property. The Massachusetts Brownfields Act amended state cleanup laws to provide liability protection for several types of parties involved in brownfields projects (the assessment, remediation and redevelopment of historically contaminated and underutilized commercial/industrial property located within specific state designated economically distressed areas). An integral part of a brownfields remediation and/or redevelopment project is the performance of an appropriate front end Environmental Site Assessment. If you are an eligible person (an owner/operator who did not cause or contribute to contamination at the property), downgradient property owner, tenant, redevelopment authority or community development corporation, or secured lender interested in participating in a brownfields redevelopment project, LINEC can assist you with developing a cost effective and technically appropriate scope of work to perform an initial Environmental Site Assessment or targeted follow-up assessment. LINEC can also provide informational assistance associated with liability protection, the brownfields covenant not to sue programs, available funding sources, and tax credit programs.
LINEC‘s LSP has performed numerous Environmental Site Assessments of residential, undeveloped, commercial and industrial properties. The scope of many of these commercial/industrial site assessments was quite extensive. These site assessments were performed in the most cost effective manner possible while still addressing the known or suspected conditions which may be encountered. LINEC field personnel perform the sampling of soil, groundwater, soil vapor, and indoor air. LINEC field personnel are trained and equipped with the proper equipment to perform environmental monitoring and collect the necessary samples for confirmatory laboratory analysis, using applicable sampling protocols.
Typical Environmental Site Assessments performed by LINEC are referred to below:
- Environmental Transaction Screening (ETS)
- Environmental Site Assessment (ESA)/Risk Assessments (ERA)
- Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
- Phase II Environmental Site Assessment and Subsurface Investigation
- Targeted Subsurface Investigations
- Targeted Vapor and Aqueous Phase Contaminant Migration Assessments
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.