Steps Towards a Record of Site Condition (RSC) – The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (Phase I ESA)

We start our series of posts about the process of obtaining an RSC for a property with a post on the Phase I ESA. Currently the Phase I ESA is a review of all available information regarding a property in order to develop a complete picture of the environmental legacy of the property. The Phase I ESA as defined by O.Reg. 153/04 includes reviews of a variety of government and private databases (spill records, underground tank records, waste disposal records, etc), aerial photographs, land transfer records, interviews with site occupants and neighbours, as well as a site walkover supervised by a Qualified Person (QP).

The purpose of developing this environmental history of the property in question is to identify if any past or present activities at the site could have resulted in areas of potential environmental concern. From this conclusion the future path towards an RSC is determined. If no areas of potential concern are found then the owner is eligible to submit an RSC. However, if areas of potential concern are found or suspected, then a Phase II ESA and possible remedial work might be warranted at the property. Because the Phase I ESA provides the basis by which the direction of all future work proceeds, it is essential that this phase of the assessment is performed properly. A poor quality Phase I ESA can become a costly mistake down the line during the Ministry of Environments (MOE) RSC review process (more on this in future posts).

The above steps are applicable with the current legislation, but on December 29, 2009, the MOE released Amendment that is set to officially take effect on July 29, 2011(but in AEL’s experience the MOE is already comparing Phase I ESAs to these standards). Major changes to the Phase I ESA process include:

i) Title searches on the property must proceed back to 1850 or until the property was first developed

ii) The QP must have access to ALL areas of the site, barring safety concerns, during the site walkover

iii) All properties that have ever operated as a gas station, automobile repair facility or dry cleaner MUST automatically undergo a Phase II ESA if an RSC is to be submitted

iv) If an owner wishes to change consultants, all work previously performed on the site must be reviewed and signed off by the new consultant

The purpose of these changes is to level the playing field and bring consistency to the quality of Phase I ESA reports that the MOE receives. The changes will also make the Phase I ESA process more time consuming, in-depth and, consequently, more expensive for owners. Lastly, it will be very difficult to change consultants once an investigation on a property has been initiated, meaning that property owners will have to use a high degree of discretion when choosing a consultant to work with.

Remember to visit our blog next week to read the second post in our series about the steps to submitting a RSC - The Phase II Environmental Site Assessment.

Ben Goldstein (bgoldstein@aeonegmond.com)