Previous Week's Speaker: Jerry Friedman & Blazosky and Associates

There were two programs today. Jerry Friedman from the other State College club gave a brief presentation on the Rotary Foundation and provided a brief outline of the District 7350 Rotary Foundation Celebration Dinner. This dinner has the theme, "One Blue Sky".

Bonnie Abramson introduced the main event of the day presented by colleagues of hers at Blazosky Associates. Steve Greer provided an outline of the firm and noted that it was founded in 1986 by John Blazosky. The company specializes in environmental engineering and planning and has offices in Murraysville, Valley Forge, and State College.

Karen Finland, who is in charge of the State College Office and has 10 years experience spoke about the importance of Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) for commercial real estate transactions. The existing environmental laws renders the current property owner responsible for an environmental issues that may develop concerning property. It is very important to have an ESA conducted prior to any land acquisition to protect the new owner from future liability. An ESA will study the land, prior owners, prior businesses that may have been located on that property in an attempt to see if there is any potential for an environmental problem. An ESA can remove any and all future liability arising out of past environmental incidents from the individual purchasing the land.

Karen provided the example of a piece of property that may have had a gas station on it in the past. If you purchase the property without an ESA you automatically assume complete liability for any spills that may have occurred on that property. An ESA is an appropriate inquiry into the history of the land in question and its uses over the years. An ESA can only be done by a qualified environmental specialist. Any findings discovered by the ESA are valid for one year and are tied to the property not to the owner.

A Phase 1 ESA determines potential for liabilities. The investigating firm will attempt to collect all known information concerning the property such as mapping, aerial photographs, checking the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) databases looking for evidence of items such as buried tanks. This phase will also check into adjacent properties to see if there is any potential for pollutants to have leached from those properties. Basically, this phase is a history of the land use and should include interviews of previous owners, neighbors.

The ideal result of the Phase I efforts is to discover that there are no potential liabilities. However, if there are issues at least a decision can be better made as to whether or not to pursue purchasing the land or look elsewhere.

Phase II provides for further investigation to look for specific problems that may have been evidenced in Phase I. The results here may again prompt the purchaser to walk away or they may want to pursue the deal.

Dave Lehman, on sabattical from Juniata College, then discussed abatement processes. The Bureau of Land Re-cycling provides incentives for cleaning up existing environmental problems. Pennsylvania was the first state in the country to develop such programs and the standards that accompany the process. Dave spoke about Act II, which is a voluntary program under DEP that allows a current owner to clean up their land. Should a current owner discover a release on their property Act II provides low interest loans and grants to assist in the clean-up. Under Act II, the property owner works with the DEP and keeps them informed of the progress. By operating under Act II and cooperating with DEP, DEP will provide the property owner with a liability release from future actions. This liability release is also recognized by the federal government. A-B's junkyard, site of the current Giant, PEP Brothers, Office Max strip mall is an example of the positive effects of Act II. It also has a tie in to our club as Bonnie Abramson's father owned Abramson's Auto Salvage.

This week’s note taker: Doug Holmes

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