How long does a Phase I take?

Neither ASTM E1527-21 nor the All Appropriate Inquiries rule, 40 CFR part 312, sets a turnaround time, a delivery schedule or a deadline for a Phase I report. What they do set are the time rules for parts of the work set out below (E1527-21, 4.6, 8.1.5, 8.1.8, 9.2.7, 10, 11; 40 CFR 312.20). For what the sources say about cost, see How much does a Phase I ESA cost?

Records: the 20-day test

The standard requires review only of records reasonably ascertainable from standard sources (E1527-21, 8.1.4). A record counts as obtainable within reasonable time and cost when the source provides it within 20 calendar days after receiving the request and asks only a nominal fee to retrieve and copy it. The request may be made in writing, by phone or in person. A record that can only be read at the source qualifies if the source allows a visit within 20 calendar days of the request (E1527-21, 8.1.5). The rule's matching performance factor is information "obtainable from its source within reasonable time and cost constraints" (40 CFR 312.20).

Government information bought from a commercial service may be treated as current if the service updates it at least every 90 days, or, where the agency updates less often than quarterly, within 90 days of the agency's public release (E1527-21, 8.1.8).

Agency file reviews

When the subject property or an adjoining property appears on a standard government record source, the pertinent regulatory files should be reviewed, under the same reasonably ascertainable tests (E1527-21, 8.2.3.1). If the environmental professional judges a file review unwarranted, the report must give the reason (E1527-21, 8.2.3.1). Other sources may stand in for the file (E1527-21, 8.2.3.2).

Time also enters the standard's judgment calls on how far to research. For adjoining properties, the time and cost of a resource is one factor, and the standard gives building department records and property tax files as examples that may take too long (E1527-21, 8.3.9). For the surrounding area, it says aerial photographs are relatively quick to analyze, while directories covering more than the handful of streets around the subject property typically take too long (E1527-21, 8.3.10). It describes the inquiry as a balance between limiting time and cost and reducing uncertainty, and notes a point past which the time or cost of more information outweighs its use and may harm the orderly completion of transactions (E1527-21, 4.5.2).

The site visit

The standard does not expect more than one site visit (E1527-21, 9.2.7). Before the visit, the owner shall be asked to name a key site manager, and if one is named, the person making the visit shall make a reasonable attempt, at least once, in writing or by phone, to agree a time when the key site manager will be there (E1527-21, 10.5.1). If that fails, the environmental professional asks during the visit whether the key site manager or another knowledgeable person is available to interview (E1527-21, 10.5.1). With several occupants to interview, the visit need not be timed for all of them to be available (E1527-21, 10.5.2.3). Weather and other physical limits on the visit, such as snow, rain or flooding, are noted and documented (E1527-21, 9.2.6).

Interviews, and people who cannot be reached

Interviews may be held in person, by telephone, electronically or in writing, at the environmental professional's discretion (E1527-21, 10.3, 11.3). Apart from the questions the standard places before the site visit, the environmental professional decides whether to put questions to owners, operators and occupants before, during or after it (E1527-21, 10.4). Questions to government officials may come before or after the visit, or both (E1527-21, 11.4).

Many people asked have no duty to answer (E1527-21, 10.7, 11.8). For an owner, operator or occupant other than the user, an unanswered or partly answered interview does not leave that section incomplete if a record is kept of who was asked and any reply, and there was at least one reasonable follow-up (E1527-21, 10.7.2). For state and local officials, unanswered or partly answered questions do not leave the section incomplete, so long as they were put, or an attempt was made to put them, face to face or by phone, and a written record names the person asked and gives any answers (E1527-21, 11.8). A user who is interviewed, by contrast, must answer in good faith as far as it actually knows, or name a key site manager to answer (E1527-21, 10.7.1). Required information that still cannot be obtained after good faith efforts is a data gap (E1527-21, 3.2.19).

The order of the work

The standard puts some steps before others:

Before the site reconnaissance, the user should pass on its specialized knowledge, any actual knowledge of environmental liens or activity and use limitations, and commonly known information (E1527-21, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6).
Before the site visit, the owner, the key site manager if one has been named, and the user if it is not the owner shall be asked whether helpful documents such as earlier assessments, permits and tank registrations exist and can be provided within reasonable time and cost, and whether they know of litigation, proceedings or notices that concern the subject property and involve hazardous substances or petroleum products (E1527-21, 10.8, 10.9). Documents provided are reviewed before or at the start of the visit (E1527-21, 10.8).

The report must date the interviews, the government records review, the visual inspections and the environmental professional's declaration, since those dates, not the report's, run the 180-day clock (E1527-21, 4.6.1, 4.6.3). A user-imposed constraint goes in the report's list of limiting conditions (E1527-21, 12.11), and the standard's nonmandatory appendix on report format suggests the introduction as the place to discuss contract details such as constraints from contracted timing (E1527-21, X5.2).

The clocks counted back from acquisition

The whole inquiry must fall within the year before acquisition, and the interviews, lien searches, government records review, visual inspections and declaration within the 180 days before it (40 CFR 312.20; E1527-21, 4.6.2, 4.6.3). How long is a Phase I valid? covers updates and prior assessments.

This page is general reference. It does not assess any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here.