All Appropriate Inquiry
WHAT is "ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY"?
All appropriate inquiry refers to the requirements for assessing
the environmental conditions of a property priorto its acquisition.
WHY is EPA ESTABLISHING STANDARDS FOR
CONDUCTING "ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY?"
On January 11,2002, PresidentBush signed the Small Business
Liability Relief and Revitalization Act ("the Brownfields Law").
In general, the Brownfields Law amends CERCLA and
provides funds to assess and clean up brownfields sites,
clarifies CERCLA liability provisions for certain landowners,
and provides funding to enhance State and Tribal cleanup
programs. The Brownfields Law requires EPA to develop
regulations establishing standards and practices for how to
conduct all appropriate inquiry by January 2004.
WHO CONDUCTS "ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY"
UNDER THE NEW BROWNFIELDS LAW?
Subtitle B of Title II of the Brownfields Law revises some of
the provisions of CERCLA Section 101(35) clarifying the
requirements necessary to establish the innocent landowner
defense under CERCLA in addition to providing Superfund
liability limitations for bona fide prospective purchasers and
contiguous property owners. Among the requirements added
to CERCLA is the requirementthat such parties undertake "all
appropriate inquiry" into prior ownership and use of a property
at the time at which a party acquires the property.
• Bona fide prospective purchasers who buy property
after January 11, 2002 must perform all appropriate
inquiry priorto purchase and may buy knowing, or having
reason to know, of contamination on the property while still
enjoying the limitation on liability provided by the new
definition.
Contiguous property owners whose property is not the
source of the contamination, but is "contiguous" to a
facility that is the source of contamination found on their
property must perform all appropriate inquiry prior to
purchase and buy not knowing, or having reason to know,
of contamination on the property.
• Innocent purchasers/landowners must perform all
appropriate inquiry prior to purchase of a property and
must buy without knowing, or having reason to know, of
contamination on the property.
The Brownfields Law also establishes that site characterizations
orassessments conducted by entities with the use ofbrownfields
grants awarded under CERCLA Section 104(k)(2)(B)(ii) must
be conducted in accordance with the "all appropriate inquiry"
standards established under the law.
WHAT ARE THE STATUTORY CRITERIA FOR
CONDUCTING "ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY?"
Congress directed EPA to establish, by regulation, standards
and practices for conducting all appropriate inquiry. This will
be accomplished through the proce ss of regulatory negotiation.
In the Brownfields Law, Congress directed EPA to include,
within the standards for all appropriate inquiry, the ten criteria
shown below:
• The results of an inquiry by an environmental professional;
• Interviews with past and present owners, operators, and
occupants of the facility for the purpose of gathering
information regarding the potential for contamination at
the facility;
Reviews ofhistorical sources, such as chain of title documents,
aerial photographs, building department records, and land-
use records, to determine previous uses and occupancies of
the real property since the property was first developed;
Searches for recorded environmental clean-up liens against
the facility that are filed under federal, state, or local law;
Reviews of federal, state, and local government records,
waste disposal records, underground storage tank records,
and hazardous waste handling, generation, treatment,
disposal, and spill records concerning contamination at or
near the facility;
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Visual inspections ofthe facility and adjoiningproperties; CONTACT INFORMATION
Specialized knowledge or experience on the part ofthe
defendant;
• The relationship ofthe purchase price to the value ofthe
property if the property was not contaminated;
• Commonly known or reasonably ascertainable information
about the property; and
The degree of obviousness of the presence or likely
presence of contamination at the property and the ability
to detect the contamination by appropriate investigation.
WHAT ARE THE INTERIM STANDARDS FOR
CONDUCTING "ALL APPROPRIATE INQUIRY"?
The law settwo different interim standards for conducting "all
appropriate inquiry" that apply depending on the date the
property was purchased. These standards will remain in
effect until EPA promulgates final federal standards.
1. Properties purchased prior to May 31, 1997, the law
provides that a court shall consider the following when
making a determination with respect to a defendant:
specialized knowledge or experience of the defendant,
relationship of the purchase price to the value of
uncontaminated property, commonly known information
about the property, obviousness of contamination, and the
ability of the defendant to detect contamination by
appropriate detection.
2. Properties purchased after May 31, 1997, the law
requires the use of procedures developed by the American
Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), in particular
ASTM's standard E1527-97, or "Standard Practice for
Environmental Site Assessment: Phase I Environmental
Site Assessment Process." In the final rule "Clarification
to Interim Standards and Practices for All Appropriate
Inquiry Under CERCLA and Notice of Future Rulemaking
Action," EPA establishes that the current ASTM standard,
El527-00, will also meet the "all appropriate inquiry"
requirement for site characterizations and assessments.
Patricia Overmeyer
(202)566-2774
Overmeyer.Patricia@epa.gov
Brownfields Fact Sheet
All Appropriate Inquiry
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA500-F-03-019
April 2003
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
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