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December 2000

The Environmental Impact Statement Process

By Lee Blodgett, R.E.P.A.

Prior to 1970, environmental science drove environmental law. That is to say scientific knowledge demonstrated the necessity for laws to protect the environment. The results of research on bioacccumulaton, impact studies of siting large energy facilities and the impact of smog in Los Angeles are examples that illuminated the need to establish protective regulations.

In 1970, the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) was signed into law and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. The bulk of existing federal environmental laws were enacted in the following years including 18 of the most significant acts.

In the 1990s, environmental law began driving environmental science. That is to say that environmental law and regulations mandate what environmental scientists must do, such as; monitor air and water quality, limit emissions to the air and effluents to bodies of water, protect endangered species, wetlands, farmlands, cultural resources and manage hazardous wastes.

All this body of environmental law in turn provides a directory of what must be included in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

An EIS is a detailed written statement of the environmental impact of any major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. In other words, if a major federal action significantly affects the quality of the human environment, the responsible agency must do an EIS. If not, nothing more is required.

General instructions for preparing an EIS appear in the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations. The CEQ regulations rather fully specify the philosophy and form of an EIS. The specific scope of the EIS is determined by a process that includes public input to provide the opportunity for all interested and affected parties to have their concerns considered in the study.

The EIS must include reasonable alternatives and treat them all (including the proposed action) in substantial detail, and should treat all alternatives, to the extent possible, with the same level of detail.

The end product of the EIS is a record of decision (ROD). The ROD is published in the Federal Register after the publication of the final EIS. It records the agency's decision and may include factors other than the environmental impacts considered in the EIS, for example, economic and technical considerations and statutory missions. Thus, the ROD may not be the agency's proposed action or its environmentally preferred alternative if other considerations outweigh environmental considerations.

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Transaction Information
ASTM Standards

By Rich Micklin, C.P.G.

In July 2000, the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) without fanfare, published the forth edition of the Standards on Environmental Site Assessments for Commercial Real Estate. The new standards are designated E 1527-00 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Process and E 1528-00 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Transaction Screen Process. The new standards replace the old E 1527-97 and E 1528-96 standards. Many minor changes have been incorporated in the new standards including changes to the Transaction Screen Questionnaire and the Phase I report format.

The new standards recognize that the user of the Phase I process may be interested in evaluating environmental issues or conditions in the process beyond the investigation of CERCLA hazardous substances and petroleum products. Evaluation of the effect of previously used hazardous substances and petroleum products on a property fulfills one requirement for the "innocent landowner defense" under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The new standard recognizes that additional non-scope environmental conditions may pose a significant business risk and may pose lengthy construction delays, costly remedies, or significant liability if not properly investigated. The E 1527-97 standard recognized five non-scope considerations: asbestos containing materials, radon, lead-based paint, lead in drinking water, and wetlands.The E 1527-00 standard recognizes thirteen non-scope considerations, almost three times the former list. The enumeration of eight more non-scope considerations, among which are indoor air quality, industrial hygiene, and ecological resources, demonstrates that buyers and lenders are becoming more interested in identifying business risk associated with a multitude of environmental conditions not simply hazardous substance clean up liability.

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Land Development News
GPS for Survey Purposes

Picture of GPS unit

By Garth Greenan, P.E.

The Global Positioning System (or GPS) is a collection of satellites owned by the U.S. Government that provides highly accurate, worldwide positioning and navigation information, 24 hours a day. It is made up of twenty-four NAVSTAR GPS satellites, which orbit 12,000 miles above the earth, constantly transmitting the precise time and their position in space. GPS receivers on (or near) the earth's surface, listen in on the information received from three to twelve satellites and, from that, determine the precise location of the receiver, as well as how fast and in what direction it is moving.

GPS uses the triangulation of signals from the satellites to determine locations on earth. GPS satellites know their location in space and receivers can determine their distance from a satellite by using the travel time of a radio message from the satellite to the receiver.

Surveying and mapping consist primarily of the collection and processing of position information and requires specialized GPS equipment. The latest generation of equipment is known as Real Time Kinematic, or RTK. It provides survey accuracy data in the field, providing location data in real time. In the surveying market, applications include construction and engineering surveying, route surveying (roads, pipelines, cable and utility lines) and geodetic research. Data can be collected for evaluation later in the office, or used real-time, in the field. Mapping applications use large amounts of position data in the development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases, and natural resource mapping.

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Environmental Bulletin
What is a Wetland?

By Ben Komrska, C.P.G.

"Wetlands" is the generic term used to refer to marshes, swamps, bogs and similar areas. Nearly all areas in the United States, regardless of climate, contain wetlands. Wetlands are considered the transitional areas where the land and water meet. They act as a filter to remove contaminants introduced to the land from surface runoff; they regulate water levels within watersheds and provide valuable wildlife habitat.

In 1972, regulations were first introduced to protect wetlands. Regulations were deemed necessary due to the increasing wetland acreage being used for development and farming operations. The US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Environmental Protection Agency jointly administer these regulations. Many state and local governments have also enacted regulations protecting wetlands. Michigan's statue, Part 303, Wetlands Protection, of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act, 1994 PA 451, as amended, defines a wetland as a "land characterized by the presence of water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, wetland vegetation or aquatic life, and is commonly referred to as a bog, swamp, or marsh."

Most people are familiar with the cattail or lily pad wetland found in areas with standing water, but wetlands can also be grassy meadows, shrubby fields, or mature forests. A wetland need only to have a high ground water table and standing water may not be visible.

Whether water is slightly above or below the surface of the land, the single controlling feature that makes the difference when identifying whether or not an area is a wetland is the presence of water.

Land does not have to be wet all of the time in order to be defined as a wetland. In some cases, it will not be immediately obvious that a wetland exists. The presence of water will, however, cause a number of physical, chemical and biological characteristics to develop. These characteristics are used to identify and locate wetlands.

Because wetlands are identified according to the site-specific development of physical and biological conditions, an on-site inspection is always necessary to determine, with certainty, whether wetlands are present.

Is a "Wetland Permit" is necessary?

A permit from the State, or if, applicable the US Army Corps may be necessary depending upon your property location and specific use. Completing a wetland assessment or determination is the initial step when reviewing a parcel of property to determine if a permit is required. A wetland determination is initially performed to see whether the parcel contains wetlands. This is done by examining the site's plants, soils, and hydrology for wetland characteristics.

If the assessment concludes that wetlands are present at the site then it is necessary to investigate whether the wetland is under the State or US Army Corps jurisdiction, as this will decide if a permit from them is necessary. Jurisdictional wetlands include:

• Wetlands contiguous (within 500 feet) to a lake or stream.

• Wetlands hydrologically connected to other jurisdictional wetlands.

• Wetlands that are greater than 5 acres in size.

If it is concluded that the property contains jurisdictional wetlands then a permit from the State of Michigan, and if applicable, the US Army Corps of Engineers is necessary. Occasionally, local governments may also have ordinances or permit requirements.

If you find yourself completing a permit application to develop near or in a wetland, you will also likely need to complete a wetland/upland delineation study, which will be discussed in my next article.

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What's New at EC&S
EC&S Launches Website

We are pleased to let you know that we have recently launched our website. Please visit us at www.ecswebsite.com. Our purpose in developing a website was to provide value to you our customer. We have strived to make this a useful resource. We will post this newsletter on the site every quarter and keep the back issues posted for easy reference. We welcome your feedback and look forward to continually improving the site to meet your needs. We would also like to point out at this time that we now have individual email addresses. We are phasing out the ecsxprts@traverse.net address, and ask that you contact us through our new email addresses. Key addresses to note are:

• lblodgett@ecswebsite.com - Lee Blodgett

• bkomrska@ecswebsite.com - Ben Komrska

• ggreenan@ecswebsite.com - Garth Greenan

• mchilcott@ecswebsite.com - Mark Chilcott

• ejohnson@ecswebsite.com - Erik Johnson

• info@ecswebsite.com (if you aren't sure who you need to communicate with)

For our entire list of email addresses please contact our office via email (info@ecswebsite.com) or call 231-941-2366 and we would be happy to forward them to you.

And the winner of our website contest is:

Shelby Wheatly
Detroit Ready Mix Concrete, Inc.

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Brownfield Redevelopment Funding
DEQ Reopens the Site Assessment Fund

By Mark Chilcott

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) plans to reopen the Site Assessment Fund (SAF) Grant Program to Eligible Communities (as defined in 1994 PA 451, Part 195). If you have a proposed real estate transaction (sale/purchase or development) on a site of actual or suspected contamination and the cost to perform Environmental Site Assessment activities (Phase I, Phase II, BEA, and due care plans) is a deal killer, the SAF Program may be a solution.

The DEQ gives priority to projects that utilize funding for environmental assessments that may facilitate completion of due diligence or prepare the property for economic development.

To date, EC&S has completed two SAF projects and is in process with three new SAF projects. Each of the projects has resulted and/or will result in completion of a real estate transaction and facilitate the property's redevelopment. If you are interested in more details about this program, would like a list of currently qualified communities, or would like to discuss a potential project, please contact Mark K. Chilcott.

For more information about any of the topics presented in this newsletter, or any other environmental, civil engineering/land development or surveying questions, please contact EC&S at (231) 941-2366 (Traverse City) or (517) 356-8764 (Alpena).

2748 Garfield Road North, Suite 9 Traverse City MI 49686		Phone 231-941-2366 • Fax 231-941-2375 Email info@ecswebsite.com