ASTM Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and Corrective Action is seeking all interested parties, particularly landowners and developers, to contribute to the development of a proposed new standard on continuing obligations. The proposed standard, WK9354, Practice for Landowner Appropriate Care of a Contaminated Property, is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E50.02 on Real Estate Assessment and Management.
According to Bob Wenzlau, CEO, Terradex, Inc., landowners, developers and lenders who facilitate the redevelopment of brownfield properties would be the primary users of WK9354. While the ASTM standard E 1527, Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process, provides guidance on making a prospective purchaser informed of environmental conditions through completion of All Appropriate Inquiry, no standard exists to guide a purchaser during ownership of the obligations associated with the discovered environmental conditions. The proposed new standard will articulate the obligations the new landowner should meet regarding recognized environmental conditions.
"By using the standard once it is approved, environmental and public health will be enhanced and standardized at hundreds of thousands of environmental contaminated properties that are ready for safe and productive use," says Wenzlau.
Wenzlau says that participation in the development of the standard by landowners and developers who will be its ultimate users will assure that the finished product is reasonable and understandable.
For further technical information, contact Bob Wenzlau, Terradex, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. (phone: 650/328-6140; bob@terradex.com). Committee E50 will meet Oct. 24-26, at the October Committee Week in Atlanta, Ga. For membership or meeting details, contact Daniel Smith, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9727; dsmith@astm.org).
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Release #7351