Effective October 6, 2015 the use of the historical standard (ASTM E1527-05) will no longer be in compliance with the All Appropriate Inquiries Rule (AAI).
On December 20, 2013 ASTM E1527-13 procedures were published by the EPA for persons conducting all appropriate inquiries (AAI). When initially published, the new rule did not require the use of E1257-13 but allowed previous standards to be used to comply with AAI assessments.
Earlier this year the EPA proposed an amendment to all appropriate inquires under CERCLA to remove the reference to E1527-05. Public commenters suggested EPA should continue to allow the use of E1527-05 arguing that vapor releases are not a CERCLA concern. EPA disagreed with the assertion with the following explanation found in the Federal Register’s October 6 Final Rule.
Summary from the Federal Register Docket
The scope of the AAI Rule and the ASTM E1527–05 standard always included the requirement to identify all indications of releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances, or “recognized environmental conditions (RECs),” including indications of vapor migration or vapor releases. With the updates included in the 2013 version of the ASTM E1527 standard, ASTM modified the definition of migration to specifically include vapor migration and remove any confusion regarding the need to identify all RECs, or all indications of releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, when conducting an AAI investigation.
Other commenters noted environmental professionals need more time to finish ongoing investigations and adequately become familiar with the updated industry standard (ASTM E1527-13). EPA agreed that one year would be sufficient time for AAI investigations to adhere to the new standard.
Carissa Ries
carissar@banksinfo.com