Document ID: EPA-HQ-SFUND-2008-0873-0004
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2008-12-23T05:00Z

Address 100 Barr Harbor Drive

PO Box C700

W. Conshohocken, PA

19428-2959 | USA	Phone  610.832.9500

Fax  610.832.9666

Web  www.astm.org

Committee E50 on ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT, RISK MANAGEMENT AND
CORRECTIVE ACTION

	Chairman: 	Julie H Kilgore, Wasatch Environmental Inc, 2410 West
California Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84104, United States (801) 972-8400,
Fax: (801) 972-8459, e-mail: jk@wasatch-environmental.com 

	First Vice Chairman: 	A Gwen Eklund, Trc, Suite 250, Trc 505 East
Huntland Drive, Austin, TX 78752, United States (512) 684-3106,
e-mail: geklund@trcsolutions.com 

	Second Vice Chairman: 	Dennis D Rounds, SD Office Of Risk Management,
1429 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501, United States (605) 773-5879,
Fax: (605) 773-5880, e-mail: dennis.rounds@state.sd.us 

	Recording Secretary: 	David W Parsonage, American Geosciences Inc, 3925
Reed Blvd/suite 400, Murrysville, PA 15668, United States (724)
733-7003, Fax: (724) 733-1003, e-mail: dparsonage@amergeo.com 

	Membership Secretary: 	Helen A Waldorf, Dep Bwp And Green Epiphany, 28
Pond St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, United States (617) 407-2119,
Fax: (617) 292-5530, e-mail: hawaldorf@aol.com 

	Staff Manager: 	Daniel G Smith, (610) 832-9727, Fax: (610) 832-9666,
e-mail: dsmith@astm.org 



June 17, 2008

Ms. Susan Bodine 

Assistant Administrator 

Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Mail Code 5101T)

1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20460

Subject:  Request to add reference to ASTM E2247-08, Standard Practice
for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site
Assessment Process for Forestland or Rural Property to All Appropriate
Inquiries Regulation, 40 C.F.R. § 312.11

Dear Ms. Bodine:

ASTM and Committee E50 Background

ASTM International is one of the world’s largest voluntary standards
development organizations.  More than 11,000 ASTM standards, which
address health, safety and the environment, are published annually.  The
standards, and related technical information, are widely used throughout
the world as the basis of purchasing and other contracts, codes and
regulations.  

ASTM Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and
Corrective Action was formed in 1990 to provide a forum in which, among
other things, committee members may discuss issues and develop standard
industry practices for environmental site assessments performed in
connection with commercial real estate transactions.  Committee E50 is a
well-balanced committee with over 1,000 members representing all of the
stakeholder groups such as environmental engineers, consultants and
geologists, insurers, lenders, attorneys, real estate professionals,
environmental activists, and representatives from state and Federal
government.    

ASTM’s Request

ASTM International respectfully requests that the EPA add a reference in
section 312.11 of EPA’s All Appropriate Inquiries (AAI) regulation to
ASTM Standard Guide E2247-08 as being consistent with the AAI Final
Regulation and compliant with the statutory criteria for all appropriate
inquiries.  E2247 was initially adopted in 2002 and was recently revised
by ASTM Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment, Risk Management and
Corrective Action for the purpose of ensuring its consistency with the
AAI final rule and compliant with the AAI statutory criteria.  During
this revision process, Committee E50 sought and received input and
advice from EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization and the
Office of General Counsel.  ASTM International and Committee E50 believe
that referencing E2247-08 in the AAI Regulation will provide the needed
guidance to parties purchasing large tracts of land and seeking CERCLA
liability protection as bona fide prospective purchasers or innocent
landowners.  Details supporting ASTM’s request for referencing E2247
follow below.

E2247 Is Consistent with the AAI Final Rule and the AAI Statutory
Standards

The regulations for conducting all appropriate inquiries outline the
standards and practices for conducting the activities included in each
of the statutory criteria established by Congress in the 2002
Brownfields Amendments to CERCLA.  E2247-08 is consistent with all of
the outlined standards and practices and referencing E2247-08 is
consistent with the agency’s intent to allow for the use of applicable
and compliant voluntary consensus standards when possible to facilitate
implementation of the final regulations and avoid disruption to parties
using voluntary consensus standards that are found to be fully compliant
with the federal regulations.

E2247 Represents Industry Consensus 

The consensus process for developing ASTM standards is quite rigorous: 
a task group formulates a draft standard, which it believes reflects
standard industry practices.  The draft is submitted to the appropriate
subcommittee (in this case, Subcommittee E50.02 on Real Estate
Assessment and Management) for consideration, discussion and voting. 
Subcommittee approval requires an affirmative vote of at least two
thirds of the combined affirmative and negative votes cast by voting
members with not less than 60% of the voting members returning ballots. 
The main committee (E50) approval requires an affirmative vote of at
least 90% of the combined affirmative and negative votes cast by voting
members with not less than 60% of the voting members returning ballots. 
All standards being balloted at the main committee level are
simultaneously included in the ASTM Society Review (there are no
numerical requirements at the Society level).  In addition to the
numerical requirements above, all negatives and comments received during
the process must be handled successfully.  The Committee on Standards
(COS), a standing committee that reports directly to the ASTM Board of
Directors, must review the handling of negative votes that have been
determined “not persuasive” by the subcommittee and main committee
(to ensure that the procedures have been followed) prior to approval of
the standard by ASTM.  ASTM also has a proven process for maintaining
standards over time.  Standards are revised as needed by the appropriate
technical subcommittee but at a minimum reviewed for revision,
reapproval or withdrawal every four years.  

In summary, E50 is a well-balanced Committee, develops standards
according to a defined set of consensus principles and takes prompt
action to update their standards to reflect current industry and
government practices.  

Meets the Marketplace Need

E2247 was originally developed to meet the unique environmental
assessment needs of parties involved in the acquisition of large acreage
forestland and rural property.  Forest industry, other natural resource
industries, conservation organizations, forest and rural real estate
professionals, lenders, resource management agencies, and environmental
consultants are examples of the wide variety of parties that apply the
E2247 standard practice.  However, the final AAI rules do not reference
E2247 and hence CERCLA landowner liability protections are not available
to users of the E2247 standard.  Given the marketplace acceptance of the
E2247 standard, there would be significant public benefit and minimal
market disruption from EPA determining that the revised E2247-08
standard complies with the AAI requirements and therefore referencing
the standard in section 312.11 of the AAI rules.

Public Law 104-113, the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act

Public Law 104-113, the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
directs federal agencies and departments to use technical standards that
are developed by voluntary consensus standards bodies to carry out
policy objectives and further directs Federal agencies and departments
to participate with consensus standards bodies in the development of
technical standards when such participation is in the public interest
and is compatible with agency and departmental missions, authorities,
priorities and budget resources.  ASTM believes that referencing E2247
in AAI is clearly in the public interest and is compatible with agency
and departmental missions, authorities, priorities and budget resources.
 

ASTM and EPA have worked cooperatively and successfully for many years
as the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40 currently references
nearly 1000 ASTM standards.  Most recently, ASTM and the EPA worked
cooperatively to have E1527-05, Standard Practice for Environmental Site
Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Assessments
referenced in the AAI rule (§ 312.11; see 70 Fed. Reg. 66070, 66081
(Nov. 1, 2005)).  The same cooperative working relationship between ASTM
and EPA produced the current revisions to E2247.  

If you have any questions about Committee E50, the ASTM, or the E2247-08
Standard and its conformity with EPA’s AAI regulations, please contact
Mr. Dan Smith at 610-832-9727 or   HYPERLINK "mailto:dsmith@astm.org" 
dsmith@astm.org .

Sincerely,

Julie Kilgore

E50 Committee Chairman

Attachment: ASTM E2247-08 Standard

cc:  James Thomas, ASTM President

      Norman Eke, E50.02 Subcommittee Chairman

      David Parsonage, E2247 Task Group Chairman

      Dan Smith, E50 Staff Manager

      David R. Lloyd, U.S. EPA

      Patricia Overmeyer, U.S. EPA