Environmental Assessments

View Environmental Assessment Contacts

As communities expand, industrial and commercial land is being re-developed, forcing us to investigate current and past land use and business activities. New technology is available for both prevention and clean-up. Due care is required in real estate investment for realtors, buyers, sellers, bankers, insurance companies and other stakeholders.

Environmental Site Assessment can be carried out to evaluate the environmental conditions of any property. A phased approach is usually adopted to assess properties.

Phase I Environmental Site Assessment
A phase I environmental site assessment (ESA) is a first step for detecting contamination or potential environmental concern. It is carried out primarily to identify evidence of actual or potential contamination on a property. This is a useful information collection process that involved historical data review, site inspection, interviews and a written report.

Phase I ESAs may assist in reducing uncertainty about potential environmental liabilities and may be a basis for further investigation of the property. This first step may be thought of as a preliminary risk survey providing valuable information about the likelihood of potential environmental concern. Phase I ESAs may be used to make informed decisions about property transactions, identify certain baseline environmental conditions, assist in meeting regulatory requirements, and as an initial step in site remediation.

The limitations of Phase I ESAs are that they do not involve test boreholes, soil tests, air
monitoring, material testing or other intrusive types of sampling or testing. Any enhancement to Phase I ESAs should be stated by the assessor. All findings, including nil findings, pertaining to the enhancement should be included in the report. Several Phase I ESA Standards are used by consultants, including the CSA, ASTM etc.

Phase II Environmental Site Assessment
A phase II ESA should follow, to confirm the presence of contaminants if it is suspected in the phase I ESA. The assessments make use of various sampling, analytical and measuring techniques. Some are intrusive techniques such as soil and groundwater sampling, and material testing, while others are non-intrusive such as ambient air monitoring.

They are more expensive than phase I and required specialized capabilities. It is important to point out that delineation of the full extent of any contamination encountered is not the focus of phase II ESAs. In some cases, a Phase II ESA may be undertaken to establish a quantitative baseline for environmental conditions at a site.

According to the CSA Phase I ESA Standard, it is not essential that a Phase I ESA be completed prior to a Phase II ESA. In some cases, sufficient information exists regarding contamination to proceed directly to a Phase II ESA. Unlike Phase I ESA, the scope, duration, and cost of a Phase II investigation are highly dependent upon factors such as methods used, the size of the site, the number, type, and identity of suspected contaminants, the level of confidence desired in analytical results, and the environmental matrices to be sampled. Phase II ESAs usually require contributions from specialized environmental professionals. A CSA guideline for phase II ESA was released in 2000.

Phase III Environmental Site Assessment
Phase I and II ESAs are important step for remedial efforts that may follow. Phase III is an investigation of feasible follow-up approaches to be carries out if phase II suggests unacceptable levels of contamination. Clean-up itself is not considered to be part of the assessment. Timing and costs of this phase vary widely.

Phase III ESAs should be performed whenever a Phase II ESA reveals contamination that is either in contravention of local guidelines, Standards, and regulations, or considered dangerous to human health, immediately or in the long term, or deemed unacceptable by the Client for any other reason. The purpose of Phase III ESAs is to further delineate the full extent of the contamination. Depending on the types of contaminants identified, Phase III ESAs also vary in cost, duration, and scope.

Remedial Investigation
Where contamination exceeding the guidelines, Standards, or regulation was delineated, Remedial Investigations studies are undertaken to develop remedies for unacceptable levels or contamination. The investigation will identify the feasible approaches to remedy the contamination, including in-situ monitoring, or risk management.

It will critically compare these approaches by considering factors such as risks to worker, and the surrounding population, and economic and technical feasibility. It will also determine the extent of remedial measures required and allow remediation costs to be estimated. Remedial Investigations involve more interpretive procedures, and usually have a limited field component. Cost of Remedial Investigation varies depending on the location, type, and extent of the contamination.

Environmental Audit
Many financial institutions would approve loans to businesses and/or on properties, conditional to environmental performance. An environmental audit can be performed at any time to establish the current condition of the operation.

Environmental Audit is a systematic, documented verification process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence to determine whether specific environmental activities, events, conditions, management systems, or information about these matters conform with environmental audit criteria, and communicating the results of this process to the stakeholders. Auditing standards include CEAA, Western Canadian Facility Auditing Round Table, etc.

Others
There are also others terms commonly used by professional environmental assessors which are not mentioned here, such as phase IV, V, Environmental Screening, Review, Environmental Impact Assessments etc. Please contact your environmental consultant to assist you in the transaction.

Environmental Assessment Contacts

DISCLAIMER:

The Calgary Real Estate Board is posting the following list of contacts as information only. The Calgary Real Estate Board in no way recommends or endorses the services of the contacts listed below. Members of the Calgary Real Estate Board and members of the public should perform their own due diligence when engaging the services of any contractor.

EBA Engineering Consultants Ltd. provides a broad range of professional engineering and scientific consulting services to local and international clients. Since it's inception in 1966, EBA has progressively expanded to include over 400 engineers, scientists, technologists, and support staff in offices, across western and northern Canada. EBA has conducted thousands of environmental site assessments and can serve any market sector. We are approved by the leading financial and lending institutions and can be contacted by reaching Ross Huddleston, M.Env.Des., Project Director, Environmental Services Division, Calgary Riverbend Office at (403) 203-3355 or info@eba.ca . For more information please check out our website at www.eba.ca.

Elford Environmental's qualified team of assessors has a broad range of experience in the commercial and industrial real estate industry. Contact Robin Elford or Mayson Abraham at (403)292-9191 or elford.environmental@shawlink.ca.

Gould Environmental was formed in 2003 and specializes in Phase I Environmental Site Assessments and the environmental due diligence required for property transactions. We provide targeted environmental assessments of investments for purchasers, sellers, commercial banks, portfolio managers, and others to CSA standards (Z768-01). We provide services that will reduce your and/or your client's environmental and financial risks and help complete your business transactions quickly and efficiently. Visit our web site at www.gouldenvironmental.ca or contact Lorne Gould at (403) 398-5028.

PHH Environmental Limited is a full service consulting company which specializes in providing environmental health and safety services. Our affiliation with the Pinchin Environmental and the Pinchin Group of Companies in eastern Canada provides a national presence from coast to coast. With over 20 years of experience, PHH has positioned itself to provide quality consulting and technical support to all residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Dealing with potential environmental risks related to land use can be a difficult challenge for any property owner. Our aim is to help reduce potential liabilities and costs while effectively managing environmental risk. For further information on the environmental site assessment and hazardous material assessment services that PHH can provide, please contact Don Jakul, Vice-President, Calgary Office at (403)250-5722 or calgary@phhenv.com. Please feel free to review our website at www.phhenv.com for further detailed information.

Thomas Ha, MAEG., P.Geol.(AB), P.Geo.(B.C.), CESA, is a real estate practitioner and an Accredited Environmental Consultant with Troy Real Estate Ltd./Troy Environmental. He can be reached at (403)282-2178 or thomasha@telusplanet.net .

Nichols Environmental (Canada) Ltd. has extensive experience in bringing closure to contaminated sites through the careful assessment of past site history, the application of sound engineering/geological principles to assess contaminant migration, and experience and technical knowledge to implement cost-effective remediation. Nichols Environmental conducts consulting activities for Phase I ESA (Site Assessment and Audits, Due-Dilligence Review, Historical Review, Mold, Asbestos and Hazardous Building Materials), and Phase II ESA (Contaminant Characterization and Delineation, Underground Storage Tank Investigation, Risk Assessment and Monitoring, Site Closure Planning). For more on how Nichols Environmental can assist you, please contact David Nuell, Calgary Office at (403)993-6636 or nuell@nicholsenvironmental.com. Please feel free to review our website at www.nicholsenvironmental.com for further detailed information.

Jacques Whitford completes more than 1,500 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments annually - more than any other Canadian firm - and are a major provider of this service throughout North America.  Furthermore, our client base encompasses a wide variety of lending institutions, insurance groups, developers, lawyers, accountants, commercial, industry and governmental agencies. Our large staff can easily conduct single or large portfolio site assessments efficiently, consistently and affordably.Our professionals have all been fully trained based on the requirements of the CSA-Z768 Standard in Canada and the ASTM Standard in the United States. Visit our web site at www.jacqueswhitford.com or contact Heather Charbonneau at (403) 781-4127.