Environmental Due Diligence - a PDH Online Course for Architects, Engineers and Surveyors

Environmental Due Diligence

Course Outline

Environmental due diligence is the process where engineers have the opportunity to assess risks and protect clients from unwarranted environmental liability in real estate and other business transactions. This eight hour course will prepare engineers with an environmental due diligence overview to be familiar Phase Is, Phase IIs, Transaction Screenings, soil and groundwater remediation technologies and common business environmental risks including asbestos, radon, lead-based paint, lead in drinking water and mold.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

Be familiar with major environmental laws that may affect real estate transactions;
Be familiar with ASTM Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and Transaction Screening Processes;
Know what historical resources need to be reviewed in a Phase I;
Know the criteria for evaluating off-site contamination concerns during the government records review component of Phase Is and Transaction Screenings;
Have a better understanding of when Phase I Environmental Site Assessment or Transaction Screenings are needed;
Have a better understanding who can seek protection against Federal Superfund otherwise known as CERLCA Liability;
Know how a recognized or potential environmental condition is defined;
Be able to list the major requirements of a Phase I or Transaction Screening review;
Be familiar with the Transaction Sreening questionnaire;
Know what the term "Environmental Professional" means;
Be aware of Phase I user obligations in the Phase I process;
Be familiar with Phase II investigations and remedial actions;
Be familiar with Business Environmental Risks and how they affect real estate transactions;
Be familiar with the health effects associated with asbestos exposure;
Understand basic asbestos sampling requirements and how can collect samples;
Understand how asbestos can affect a real estate transaction;
Be familiar with the components of an asbestos operation and maintenance plan;
Be familiar with the health effects associated with radon exposure;
Understand basic radon sampling requirements and who can collect samples;
Be familiar with basic radon mitigation techniques;
Be familiar with the health effects associated with lead exposure;
Understand basic lead based paint sampling requirements and who can collect samples;
Understand how lead based paint can affect a real estate transaction; and
Be familiar with concerns associated with lead in drinking water and mold.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for environmental engineers, consulting engineers, engineering geologists and EHS professionals.

Benefit to Attendees

This course will help attendees assist clients involved with real estate transactions with knowledge of key environmental due diligence topics and give attendees the ability to identify and qualify environmental conditions and several business environmental risks.

Course Introduction

To assist clients in evaluating environmental conditions during real estate transactions, licensed professional engineers must fully the ASTM Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and Transaction Screening processes. In addition, if recognized or potential environmental conditions are discovered, consulting engineers need to be aware of Phase II investigation methods available, as well as, commonly used remedial techniques to define, determine the extent and remediate environmental contamination. Furthermore, other business environmental risks, such as asbestos and lead-based paint, can also affect real estate transactions by devaluing property. These liabilities are routinely assessed as part of the environmental due diligence process. This course is intended to assist engineers, engineering geologists, and other EHS professionals in this process.

Course Content

This course provides an overview of environmental due diligence activities that consulting engineers may need to perform as part of a real estate transaction. You will be directed to the following document to study:

Environmental Due Diligence (an Overview of Phase Is, IIs, Transaction Screenings, Asbestos and More) (2008, 34 pages, PDF file format)

The Table of Contents for this document is:

Section 1.0                  Introduction
Section 2.0                  Laws that May Affect Property Transfer
Section 3.0                  The ASTM Environmental Site Assessment Process
Section 4.0                  The ASTM Transaction Screening Process
Section 5.0                  Phase IIs and Beyond
Section 6.0                  Business Environmental Risks
                                                Asbestos
                                                Radon
                                                Lead Based Paint
                                                Lead in Drinking Water
                                                Mold

This document will summarize the information a professional engineer needs to know to complete a ASTM Phase I Environmental Site Assessment or Transaction Screening, provide Phase II and remedial options, and become familiar with certain Business Environmental Risks. Also, you will need to review six documents, titled:

These technical documents are in the public domain and may be downloaded or printed free of charge.

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

Environmental due diligence is the process where engineers have the opportunity to assess risks and protect clients from unwarranted environmental liability in real estate and other business transactions. Through this online course, licensed professionals, engineering geologists and EHS professionals can learn about several environmental due diligence topics: Phase Is, Phase IIs, Transaction Screenings, soil and groundwater remediation technologies and common business environmental risks including asbestos, radon, lead-based paint and lead in drinking water.

Related Links

For additional information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

ASTM Standards, http://webstore.ansi.com/RecordDetail.aspx?sku=ASTM+E1527-05
ASTM Standards, http://webstore.ansi.com/RecordDetail.aspx?sku=ASTM+E1528-06

EPA – Remediation technologies, http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/cleacleanuptechnolremediation.html

EPA – Asbestos, http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/index.html
EPA – Radon, http://www.epa.gov/radon/
EPA – Lead in Paint, Dust, and Soil, http://www.epa.gov/lead/
EPA – Lead in Drinking Water, http://www.epa.gov/safewater/lead/index.html

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.