How long is a Phase I valid?

The AAI rule and ASTM E1527-21 set two clocks, both counted back from the date of acquisition. The whole inquiry must fall within the year before acquisition, and five of its parts must be done, or brought up to date, within the 180 days before it (40 CFR 312.20; E1527-21, 4.6.2, 4.6.3). Each clock runs from the date that part of the work was done, not from the report's date (E1527-21, 4.6.3).

The two clocks

Under the rule, the whole inquiry "must be conducted within one year prior to the date of acquisition of the subject property" (40 CFR 312.20). For the rule, the date of acquisition is "the date on which a person acquires title to the property" (40 CFR 312.10). These five parts must be "conducted or updated within 180 days of and prior to the date of acquisition" (40 CFR 312.20):

"Interviews with past and present owners, operators, and occupants"
"Searches for recorded environmental cleanup liens"
"Reviews of federal, tribal, state, and local government records"
"Visual inspections of the facility and of adjoining properties"
"The declaration by the environmental professional"

(40 CFR 312.20)

The standard sets the same five parts and the same two limits as a condition of the landowner liability protections (E1527-21, 4.6.2, 4.6.3). It presumes an assessment that meets or exceeds the practice is viable when conducted within 180 days before acquisition, subject to the user's responsibilities and the actual knowledge exception below (E1527-21, 4.6.1). For a transaction with no acquisition, such as a lease or a refinance, the standard counts back from the date of the intended transaction instead (E1527-21, 4.6.1, 4.6.2). The rule itself speaks only of the date of acquisition (40 CFR 312.20).

When each clock starts

The assessment rests on conditions as they were when each of its elements was completed (E1527-21, 4.5.5). The report must give the dates of the interviews, the review of government records, the visual inspections and the environmental professional's declaration (E1527-21, 4.6.1). The lien search is a user responsibility; its date goes in the report only if the user engaged the environmental professional to do it (E1527-21, 4.6.1). The report must also give the dates of the site reconnaissance and interviews and who did them (E1527-21, 12.3).

The report's own date generally does not show when those parts were finished, and the standard says it should not be used to judge the 180-day or one-year limits (E1527-21, 4.6.3).

Updating work inside the year

An assessment that meets or exceeds the practice, with its information collected or updated within one year before acquisition, may be used if the five parts fall within the 180 days, subject to the user's own tasks and to the rule against using prior information known or plainly shown to be wrong (E1527-21, 4.6.2, 4.8). The rule allows an earlier inquiry by or for the persons it applies to, on four conditions: it was done in compliance with the CERCLA inquiry provisions; it was collected or updated within one year; the five parts are within 180 days; and "Previously collected information is updated to include relevant changes in the conditions of the property and specialized knowledge" (40 CFR 312.20) of the persons conducting the inquiry.

If a different user will rely on the assessment within that period, the new user must also carry out the user's responsibilities in Section 6 (E1527-21, 4.6.4). The rule lets an inquiry include reports prepared by or for other persons, provided they meet the rule's objectives and performance factors, and the person using them reviews the information, makes the additional inquiries on specialized knowledge, purchase price and commonly known information, and the inquiries are updated as necessary (40 CFR 312.20).

Prior assessments older than a year

The standard sets out how to decide whether information from an assessment done more than one year before acquisition can be used, to spare later users from repeating work (E1527-21, 4.7). Within those time limits, information from a prior assessment may be used if the procedures that produced it meet or exceed the practice, but never without a current look at conditions likely to affect RECs, and more work may be needed to show what has materially changed since (E1527-21, 4.7.1). The standard gives no right to use or rely on a prior assessment, and the contract terms between earlier and later users are outside its scope (E1527-21, 4.7.1, 4.7.2).

Each part of the work has its own rule for prior information:

Historical sources. Those in a prior assessment may be reviewed if legible copies are attached to it and the environmental professional independently finds they meet the historical research requirements (E1527-21, 8.4).
Site reconnaissance. A prior visit's information may guide the new one but shall not be relied on as showing current conditions (E1527-21, 9.3).
Interviews. Where the earlier assessment followed the practice, people it interviewed need not go over their earlier answers again, but they should be asked what they have learned since, or other people should be asked about conditions since then (E1527-21, 10.5.3, 11.6).

The actual knowledge exception

If the user or the environmental professional actually knows that information from a prior assessment is not accurate, or it is obvious from other information that it is not, that information may not be used (E1527-21, 4.8).

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