Phase I & Phase II
Any time a company or individual purchases a piece of property for development, it is crucial they complete their due diligence in inspecting the land and assessing the environmental condition of the site.
At Leaaf, we routinely perform Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) for a wide range of clients to help them minimize their environmental risk. If these assessments reveal any environmental concerns, such as contaminated soil or groundwater from historical use of the site, we can suggest courses of action to minimize or eliminate those risks.
Beyond these ESAs, specific services we provide in this field include:
Environmental risk assessments
Soil and groundwater investigations
Brownfields and Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP)
Workplans (QAPP, HASP, CAP, etc.)
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) work
Records Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA)
Leaaf is highly knowledgeable in all these service areas, and is frequently sought out by both major companies and government agencies. We sit on the Louisiana Brownfields Association board, and have conducted assessments at numerous brownfields sites, as well as ESAs at former industrial sites.
Full Assessments of Work Sites
Phase I ESAs are the first step in analyzing a piece of property before development (or redevelopment) work can begin. These assessments begin with a visit to the site to observe both current and evidence of past uses of the property and any adjacent properties. Assessors also examine federal, state and local databases relating to storage tanks, hazardous substance storage and disposal and other historical records. The goal is to gather as much information as possible about the property prior to purchase to allow the client to make informed decisions regarding potential liabilities associated with past use.
Phase II ESAs are the next step after a Phase I ESA, if that Phase I assessment identified possible environmental concerns at a site that require further investigation. During a Phase II ESA, scientists test the soil, groundwater and/or soil gas to determine whether a property has been impacted by past uses, and to potentially determine a scope of work moving forward.
