American Society for Testing and Materials Standards Update

In November of 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency approved the most recent American Society for Testing and Materials Standard E1527-21 as sufficient to satisfy “All Appropriate Inquiry” for potential liability protections under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. 78 Fed. Reg. 79,319.

As a result, E1527-21 now stands as the baseline for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments. While the ASTM E1527-13 standard may still be appropriate in certain situations, as a general rule, individuals performing Phase I ESAs should ensure that their assessments are in compliance with the latest standard.

The change that matters most to a title search is the lien and AUL search window. Under E1527-21 the land records are searched back to 1980, the year CERCLA was enacted, rather than back to the date the current owner acquired the property. Our 1980 Environmental Lien & AUL report is written to that requirement, and our comparison of the two standards sets out everything else that changed.