Limited Environmental Review

A Limited Environmental Review (LER) is a cost-effective due diligence screening tool for evaluating environmental risk often used by lenders, brokers, and investors as part of a tiered approach to environmental risk management. The review provides a limited-scope assessment that does not include a visit by the environmental consultant to the subject property, often used as a cost-effective initial screen of a property to determine the potential for environmental liability at the site, such as contamination from a nearby gas station. If such a concern is identified, then often the evaluation is elevated to a more comprehensive report such as the Phase I ESA, with the cost of the initial report being rolled into the Phase I ESA. Our review process obtains regulatory documents and files associated with current and historical releases of oil and hazardous materials for a subject property and the surrounding area from databases such as NETROnline, MassDEP, and NHDES. CSE will interpret the regulatory reports and prepare a short letter report with our findings and recommendations to assist in determining whether further due diligence is required. Database information reviewed may include waste sites by release tracking number, site name, address, status, and/or chemical type. Typical results include lists of site actions, maps, and links to both electronically submitted and scanned documents. Information from standard environmental record sources is provided by NETROnline (Nationwide Environmental Title Research, LLC), a comprehensive environmental database information provider containing thousands of environmental records collected from various local, state, and federal organizations. Data from governmental lists are updated and integrated into one database, containing information pertaining to Superfund sites, suspected contamination, compliance, and violation concerns, permitted sources of toxic vapors, and other characteristics that may be harmful. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) provides historic and recent reportable release information identified by Release Tracking Numbers (RTNs) within the ‘Waste Sites and Reportable Releases Lookup’ database for sites by site name, address, status, and/or chemical type. Results include lists of site actions, maps, and links to both electronically submitted and scanned documents. Additionally, the ‘File Viewer’ database provides rapidly updated access to files submitted electronically through eDEP and allows complex searches for those files. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) offers a OneStop Search database of environmental information and data compiled by DES programs and accessed via Onestop Data Mapper, an online viewer maintained by NHDES and NH GRANIT that displays Onestop data in an interactive map format. OneStop does not provide access to all existing DES data, however, available information includes sources of environmental interest; GIS data; environmental monitoring data; ordering sampling equipment for environmental testing; permit statuses; and information on local businesses that provide various environmental services, ranging from hazardous waste transportation to water well contractors.